


featherbrain - ayakashi

by starlightkun



Series: ayakashi [2]
Category: NCT (Band), NCT Dream
Genre: Ayakashi Jeno, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, No Main Character Death, Tengu Jeno, Violence, and is also kind of a dick for a little bit, but he has Character Development and then reader falls in love with him, death mention, jeno has a Tragic Backstory, ok so heres all the content warnings, themes of drug abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:40:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 48,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26879854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun
Summary: in which you can’t believe you’ve fallen for this stupid, stupid tengu ; part of the ayakashi series
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Reader
Series: ayakashi [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961095
Kudos: 14





	1. [one]

**Author's Note:**

> you have to read the prologue before reading this so you know what the fuck is happening!!

The following week passed without incident, just your normal schedule. The only real change that had happened was that you and Taeyong visited Lenticular Café every day, helping with the clean-up efforts. Some things had to be done by contractors—such as fixing the pipes and flooring Sicheng had burst to restrain Jeno and create the wall of water—but you two helped with whatever you could. Jeno had come by as well to help with the heavy pieces of junk removal, and Sicheng and Yuta dropped by a couple times each as well when they were able to.

This time when you and Taeyong pushed open the brand-new door to Lenticular Café, a smiling Johnny greeted you, beckoning you over to where he was sitting on the floor, papers and binders spread out around him. Not a single table had been spared that night.

You plopped yourself down beside him, Taeyong on your other side. Some of the pages were color palettes, others were stock pictures of tables, chairs, and upholstery.

“I need some interior design help, little lady,” Johnny gestured to the pages.

“You’re not just going to get the same stuff you had before?” You asked, picking up a couple of the color palette pages, eyes hungrily scanning them.

“We’ve been needing a change around here, and what better time than now?” He said, looking at you fondly. “Not to mention that I don’t think I’ve seen you look this excited for anything in the time I’ve known you. That’s reason enough for me.”

He was right about that. You couldn’t fight the eager grin taking over your face, or your eyes lighting up as they greedily took in all the options laid out before you.

* * *

It was finally the weekend again, about two weeks after the Wraith attack. You were planning on spending your entire Saturday at Lenticular Café, starting at five in the morning; some of the new furniture was set to arrive that afternoon, and Johnny wanted to finish up the last of the painting work before then. He had also promised breakfast and lunch to whoever came by to help out. That offer would definitely attract most of your little group.

Bagels and various spreads were the promised breakfast, and when you and Taeyong arrived, others were already there, munching on their own food. You let Johnny and Yuta give you hugs before you grabbed your own bagel, settling into the friendly conversation floating around everyone.

Renjun told you all the unfortunate series of events that was his and Johnny’s morning—they lived together in the space above the café—which included Johnny literally falling out of bed, Renjun slipping in the shower, and the both of them forgetting payment for the bagels, making Renjun run all the way back home for his wallet. Which was a mile away from the bagel shop. He’d just finished relaying that to everybody when the door opened again, and your entire group turned to look at the newcomer.

“Who would’ve thought that featherbrain would be up this early?” Taeyong called out at Jeno.

Except Jeno wasn’t alone. Entering right behind him was Jaemin. Normally, you’d be ecstatic to see your best friend, especially since you hadn’t seen him off-campus in the past two weeks. But this meant that there could be no Ayakashi talk today, no casual existence or mention of all the Ayakashi in the room, and nobody could use their powers to help out.

The usual plan was for Jeno to use his powers to do any heavy lifting, Sicheng helped to wash the floors, Yuta would heal up any injuries sustained—usually from improper use of tools or just general stupidity.

The blinds were always shut, allowing everyone to relax into something between their human form and their true form: Jeno’s wings were usually out, Renjun and Sicheng’s eyes were their true colors, Taeyong’s ears came out. If Johnny happened to bring out some beer later in the day, some of his tattoos would appear, and Yuta’s ears and tails would be visible as well. One time, vodka had been brought out, and they’d somehow convinced Sicheng to take a couple shots, making a patch of iridescent ocean blue scales surface on his cheek.

None of that could happen today.

Jaemin’s eyes scanned the menagerie in front of him until they landed on you. Immediately, he made a beeline for you, wrapping his arms around you tightly. With a half-eaten bagel in your hand, you stumbled back a couple steps from Taeyong and Yuta, your friend’s hug a bit more powerful than usual today.

“Hey, NaNa,” you patted his back, looking over his shoulder at Sicheng and Renjun pointedly.

Immediately, they blinked, and their eyes returned to their natural colors. Thankfully, they were the only ones not entirely in their human form. If anybody else had been out of it, those changes would’ve been a lot more noticeable.

Jaemin let go of you and wedged himself between you and Taeyong, much to the Nekomata’s displeasure. You had to shoot Taeyong a warning look to behave over this apparent slight to him before you looked to Jeno in bewilderment. Why the hell did he bring Jaemin today?

Your human friend was looking at the group with bright eyes and a wide smile, “Hi!”

The group was quiet, half staring at Jaemin and the other half glaring at Jeno. Jaemin was unfazed, explaining his presence, “When I saw that Jeno was getting up so early today, I _had_ to ask what he was doing. He told me about how the café had been ruined in a burglary, and I insisted on coming and helping out too!”

So that was the story Jeno had crafted, and now all of you had to follow along with. Great. You couldn’t stand lying to your best friend. The last time you’d lied to Jaemin was when you had taken his heart-shaped pencil topper in sixth grade and said that you didn’t. When he found it in your pencil case the next day, you broke down crying. Admittedly, you weren’t eleven anymore, but you still didn’t like lying to Jaemin any more than you did back then.

And _of course_ Jaemin would offer to help, he was a genuinely nice and helpful person. Sometimes annoyingly so.

“Thank you, Jaemin,” Johnny broke the group’s silence, beaming at your friend, then gesturing to the food. “Bagel?”

“Sure, thanks!”

Thankfully, he didn’t seem like he was going to address Taeyong calling Jeno ‘featherbrain’ when they walked in. Or he hadn’t heard. Either way, one less thing to lie to Jaemin about.

And so, with great reluctance and resentment, your group finished up breakfast and got to work.

Most of the painting left was in the office and the kitchens, the two rooms that had been the most well-preserved. You took to Johnny’s office with your can of plum purple paint and roller. Jaemin wasn’t far behind you, watching nervously as you stood on a ladder to reach the top of the walls.

“You’ve been hanging around Jeno a lot lately,” Jaemin declared, and when you looked down at him, his arms were crossed, and the smallest hint of a pout was on his lips.

“Is my NaNa jealous?” You cooed at him teasingly, hoping you could dissuade him from looking for an actual reason.

“Just wondering what’s going on with you two.”

“Nothing, Jaemin.”

“Did something happen in the café while I was gone? Did you get hurt? Like… trauma bonding or something?”

At the clear emotional distress in your friend’s voice, you put your painting supplies down on the tray attached to the ladder and climbed down to address him eye-to-eye, fighting your inner discomfort at lying to him, “No, bub, nothing like that. When he took me home, we were able to chat and… we started getting along.”

“Okay, cool!” his face immediately lit back up and you pulled you into a tight hug. You were just happy to have avoided disaster. “I love my friends being friends. Oh, all three of us can hang out now!”

“Oh, yay.”

* * *

The truck delivering some of the furniture pulled up in the back alley right after the group returned from the lunch Johnny had treated you all to. You could see everyone’s disgruntlement at having to physically lift them all by hand rather than letting Jeno take care of it magically. It was the booth seats and tables as well as a couple large central tables today, with the delivery man informing you all that the smaller ones and the chairs would arrive tomorrow.

After everything had all been unloaded haphazardly in the alleyway and the man drove away, you held open the brand-new back door wide for the guys to start carrying the furniture in. It was a long process maneuvering all the tables and people through the hallway to the front of the restaurant. You assisted in directing them as to where everything was supposed to go, according to your own floorplan you’d drawn up while determining all the interior decorating pieces.

Johnny, Yuta, Sicheng, and Jaemin had just set down a table together when the Domeki let out a distinct grunt.

“Are you okay, Johnny?” You asked him, noticing that he was holding his back.

“Guess the old man really did throw out his back. Just not how Renjun predicted it,” Yuta snickered.

“I’m not much older than you, Yuta,” Johnny warned, wincing a bit.

“Take a break, Johnny,” you grabbed his arm insistently. “I think Renjun would kill you if you got injured and he had to run the whole place himself.”

“Alright, alright,” he relented, letting you guide him over to the only seating available in the café, a stool that had previously resided in the kitchen.

You helped him shrug his jacket off, feeling a strange lump in the front pocket. Curiously, you pulled the object out. It was a small leather pouch, no bigger than your finger. A crimson string was tied tightly around it, and something was inside.

“Johnny, what’s this?” You questioned, holding it in the palm of your hand so he could see.

Your friend looked around the café for a moment. All the other guys had gone back into the alley to get ready to bring in the largest table, leaving just the two of you at the front of the café, right around where Renjun’s host stand would be.

At the lack of people, he seemed satisfied enough to say, “That is— _was_ the protective charm I had over the café.”

“Was?”

“All the power’s gone from it.”

“Why don’t you make another one?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t make this one. An old Onmyoji friend of mine did. Now it’s nothing more than a keepsake,” he admitted, plucking it from your hand and tucking it into the breast pocket of his shirt.

“I’m sorry,” you apologized, although you weren’t quite sure for what. For taking something from his jacket without asking? For it not working anymore? For accidentally bringing up the Onmyoji friend that had caused Johnny’s face to cloud with such sadness?

Johnny waved away your worries, “It’s alright, little lady. I like that you’re curious.”

“When I get my powers, I’ll make you another one.”

“Thanks,” he smiled softly.

You’d barely returned the gesture when you heard a sudden thud and yells coming from the hallway. Dashing over to where the other six men were, you heard them all groaning and cursing. You frantically did a cursory look to see if any of them were injured before you saw what they were hollering about. There was a hole in the wall. The wall you’d _just_ painted the day before.

Before you could even question what’d happened, Yuta was going off, “What the fuck, Jeno? How the hell did you manage to fall asleep carrying a fucking table? Now there’s a giant hole in the damn wall, too!”

Jeno’s eyes were half-lidded behind his glasses, and he did seem tired, more-so than usual. He was completely unaffected by Yuta’s heated words, slumping back against the wall. Everyone’s faces were pink from the effort of carrying the huge table, especially the Tengu’s.

“Here, I’ll help,” you offered, nudging Jeno out of the way. “Go get a glass of water or something, Jeno. Okay?”

He didn’t reply in the slightest, simply shuffling out of the hallway. Hooking your fingers under the tabletop, you lifted when Sicheng had yelled out the order, cautiously carrying the heavy table with the others. After setting it down in the center of the café, you double-checked your layout for the last couple tables that needed to be brought in.

While Jaemin, Renjun, Sicheng, and Yuta went to get them, you turned your focus back on Jeno. He had plopped himself down on the floor by the door, leaning back against the wall with the bill of his baseball cap hung low over his eyes.

You squatted down in front of him, “Are you okay, Jeno?”

He brought his chin up to look at you with a scowl, “Fine. Just tired.”

You weren’t going to let his unpleasant disposition dissuade you this time, “Yuta said you fell asleep carrying a table. That doesn’t sound fine.”

The Tengu seemed about ready to snap back when his eyes fluttered shut and his head lolled to the side.

“Jeno? Jeno?” You called his name out, gently shaking his shoulder as your heart rate rose anxiously.

“Let him sleep, Y/N,” Johnny’s voice was above you, hand ruffling your hair.

You looked up at your other friend with some concern. Johnny answered your wordless question, “He’s fine. Like he said, he’s really tired. Probably from all the lifting we made him do yesterday. Our powers are physically draining as well, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”

“Okay,” you accepted the Domeki’s reasoning, standing back up and stepping away from Jeno.

* * *

Once the last two tables were in, the entire group—save for the still napping Jeno—let out a unanimous groan of relief. It was early afternoon, and one-by-one everyone started dismissing themselves.

“I’ll be heading out, bye guys!” Yuta gave everyone a cheery wave.

Sicheng was next, “I’ve got a couple projects to do. Need anything else from me, Johnny?”

“Nope, you’re good to go, thanks,” Johnny sent him off with a wave as well.

“I’m going to run some errands,” Renjun announced as well.

“Did you see my additions to the grocery list?”

“Unfortunately.”

Jaemin approached the figure of Jeno slumped against the front wall, “I’m going to take him back to the apartment.”

“Do you want some help?” You offered, to which he snorted.

“It’s not like I’m going to carry him; he’s going to walk on his own two legs.”

With that, he started shaking Jeno’s shoulders, calling out to him, “Hey! Jeno! Lee Jeno! Wake up, we’re going home! Dude! Come on! Wake up!”

Jeno grumbled, squinting at his roommate in dissatisfaction before closing his eyes again.

“Oh no you don’t!” Jaemin took hold of Jeno’s arm and started pulling him up insistently.

Finally, the man gave in, yanking his limb away from his roommate and standing up by himself. Jaemin still reattached himself to his friend, taking his arm in a much gentler grasp this time.

“You coming, Y/N? We can do something after dropping Jeno off,” Jaemin asked.

Knowing that you still had Taeyong to worry about, you shook your head, “Wish I could, but I’ve got a whole to-do list in my apartment today.”

“Alrighty, just let me know if you want help with any of it.”

“I will, thanks.”

He gave the remaining three of you a cheerful wave, “Bye guys!”

“So what are you going to be doing now, Johnny?” You questioned the café owner.

“Fixing up the wall,” he gestured to the hole. “And then taking a nap.”

“How’s your back feel?”

“Like nothing ever happened.”

You were happy to hear that, “Good. We’re going to head out, have a good nap!”

“Thanks for your help, little lady. You too, Taeyong.”

After you and Taeyong had given him your goodbyes, you left the café together, your destination being your apartment.

* * *

You were back at Lenticular Café again, this time for the second shipment of furniture. Johnny had just gotten the call that it was on its way, and you were relaxing in a booth with Taeyong and Renjun. Not everybody could make it today, but you didn’t mind, it was primarily just chairs.

“They’ll be here in about ten minutes,” Johnny informed everyone after hanging up the phone.

“It’s all really coming together,” you commented, looking around the restaurant to appreciate it. Not much in the way of décor had been done, but even just the colors of the walls and upholstery of the booths brought a pleased smile to your face.

“With a big thanks to you, little lady.”

Hearing the familiar click of the door handle opening, you turned to see who was arriving. Jeno was walking in, already glowering at you, “Jaemin told me how happy he is that you and I are friends now?”

“Well hello to you too, Jeno,” you scoffed, crossing your arms. “I know, you hate people thinking you’re my friend. But he was asking why we were hanging out so much, and I couldn’t exactly tell him we were doing secret Ayakashi stuff.”

“You told him we were hanging out?”

“No! You didn’t?”

“Of course not!”

Both of you paused, still glaring at the other.

“Is your Snap Map on?”

He didn’t answer.

“Lee Jeno,” you took a deep breath not to absolutely seethe at him. “Do you have your fucking Snap Map location on?”

“Yes,” he mumbled.

“That’s why! If you don’t want him to know when we’re together anymore, turn it off.”

“He’d only know if you had yours on too!”

“If we both turn them off, that’d be suspicious.”

Jeno grumbled something you couldn’t distinguish as he pulled his phone out, tapping it a few times before turning it back off.

“He probably thought you two were fucking,” Renjun announced dryly.

“Oh my God,” you groaned, leaning your elbows forward on the table and rubbing your face in frustration. “This is the worst thing to happen since this Ayakashi shit started.”

“ _This_ is the worst thing?” Johnny asked you incredulously. “Not being attacked by Wraiths multiple times?”

“Your priorities are way off,” the Satori snorted with a shake of his head.

“Well, today should go a lot faster with you here, Jeno,” the Domeki said cheerfully.

The Tengu mumbled something unintelligible as he flopped down at another booth, “Wake me up when we’re doing shit.”

“I’ve never met anybody nearly that sleepy,” you shook your head. “Is it a Tengu thing?”

Renjun shook his head, “No, I think it’s just him. But I’ve only met a couple Tengus before.”

The both of you looked at Johnny, hoping for an explanation from him. He rubbed at the back of his neck, “Ah, yeah, just a Jeno thing.”

* * *

Impatiently drumming your fingers along the table, you were intensely lost in your head. Tonight was the first night of ‘patrols’ that Sicheng had recommended you all do. The idea was for you all to split up into pairs or threes and take a route through the city, making sure that the Wraiths were behaving and nothing suspicious was happening.

“Shouldn’t the instrument brothers be helping out?” Renjun asked with a scowl and crossed arms.

“I didn’t ask them,” Johnny shook his head at his coarse employee.

“Why not? They’re old and super powerful, right?”

“Jungwoo hasn’t left the shrine in a long time.”

“So?”

Yuta interrupted them, “We’ll be just fine with the seven of us.”

Renjun huffed, having nothing else to say, apparently.

“What’s on your mind, little lady?” Johnny questioned, leaning over the booth table to muss up your hair.

“Oh, nothing specific,” you intentionally tried to lighten your voice as you fixed your hair. “Just thinking, you know?”

“You shouldn’t be nervous,” Sicheng tried to encourage you. “Speaking of, since Y/N doesn’t have her powers yet, I was thinking that she should be in one of the groups of three, or at least paired up with Jeno or I. Make sure she has someone powerful with her.”

“She can go with pretty kitty and I,” Yuta offered.

Taeyong retorted, “No way—”

“I’ll go with Jeno,” you announced, breaking through your friends’ bickering.

The Tengu wasn’t there yet, he was the last one you all were waiting for. So he couldn’t say no.

“Okay,” the Mizuchi dragon nodded to this, right as the front door opened.

Jeno strode over to your group, baseball cap and glasses discarded for tonight.

Sicheng nodded to him, bringing out a printed-up map of the surrounding areas of the city, “Alright, now that everybody’s here, let’s go over partners and routes.”

* * *

While you had been able to choose your partner, it seemed like Sicheng was setting the others up. Him and Johnny were together, with poor Renjun being stuck between Yuta and Taeyong. Hopefully they’d bicker less without you around.

Everybody split up outside Lenticular Café, routes plugged into your phones. You kept a wary eye on the receding figures of Taeyong, Yuta, and Renjun for as long as you could before returning your focus to your own patrolling with Jeno.

It had rained earlier that day, small puddles splashing underfoot as you walked along with Jeno. As soon as you had turned a corner and were out of earshot of the others, you blurted out something that had been on your mind, “Yuta thought you would’ve killed me that night in the café, if I had tried to help Renjun.”

“He’s right,” Jeno answered without hesitation.

That definitely shut you up. You expected denial, ridicule for believing such a thing, really anything but that. Your chest was tight as you realized that you had just volunteered to be alone with a man who had essentially just told you he had no problem killing you.

The two of you were silent as you continued on your route. You were mostly unsure of what you should exactly be looking for. If the Wraiths were in their human forms, there was no way that you’d be able to tell. So you only had Jeno to rely on for sensing them. And at that moment, you didn’t have a whole lot of trust in him.

Jeno suddenly thrust an arm out in front of you, halting your steps. He looked around warily, eyes landing on a dark alley across the street from you all. Of course the scary evil Wraiths had to be in the dark scary alley. The street was empty, your route having taken you into a rather deserted area of town.

Looking both ways, Jeno sprinted across the empty street, and you quietly followed behind him. As you got closer to the alley, you could hear voices drifting out.

“Yeah, so we’ve gotta—” The man suddenly stopped, pausing before his oddly familiar voice became sinister, “Wait, you feel that?”

“Yes,” another voice agreed, and you swore you’d heard that one before somewhere. “Ayakashi and… something else. What _is_ that? Not a human.”

Their voices were getting closer, your anxiety flaring up. Jeno looked over his shoulder at you, taking a small step back from the alley. Following his lead, you backed up as well, both your pairs of eyes focused on where the two Wraiths were.

“Do you think it’s her? The one he’s been having us keep an eye on?” The second Wraith questioned.

“Maybe. But you know our orders.”

“Do I?”

Well that didn’t sound good. And Jeno seemed to have the same feeling as you, glancing back over his shoulder to you.

“Go!” He hissed as quiet as possible, barely audible to you.

You couldn’t really argue in that moment, remembering what Renjun had said in the café. Without your powers, you were just going to get in the way. But you still felt uneasy about leaving Jeno behind. And yet your feet had made up their mind, slapping against the ground as you fled the scene.

“Hey, looks like we were right!” One of the Wraiths announced with delight, voice much too clear to still be in the alley. The sounds of your feet pounding on the pavement must have drawn their attention.

“Ooh, it’s the Tengu,” the other said with fake amazement.

Ducking behind a corner, you peered back for a moment. Jeno’s wings were out, blocking your view of the Wraiths. Inky black feathers rippled as he stood his ground, facing off with them, but not making a move to attack yet. Hopefully this would end peacefully, that they’d leave him alone. Sicheng had emphasized that you weren’t to instigate or start a fight with them. Only defend yourselves.

“What’d you do with your friend, Tengu?”

“I’m alone,” Jeno replied calmly.

“Then who did we hear running away?”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

The other sneered at him this time, “Do you think we’re stupid?”

Jeno didn’t respond, still coolly staring down the Wraiths.

“Don’t think we’ve forgotten about the café, Tengu.”

 _That’s_ where you’d head their voices before. They were the belligerent customers-turned-Wraiths that Jeno had thrown a table at in the café. And you had a sinking feeling that they weren’t going to let bygones be bygones.

“We’re not supposed to touch your friend, but you, Tengu, are fair game.”

The first Wraith had barely spit that out when you heard a flap of wings. Looking up, you saw Jeno hovering above the two black clouds of fog that were the Wraiths. They lunged up towards him, but he smoothly avoided them. The Wraiths made another dash at him, which he elegantly did an aerial spin away from. Despite his constantly sleepy disposition, Jeno seemed fully aware of what was going on around him right then as he turned and twirled out of their reach.

“That’s it?” Jeno said as he hovered, hand covering his mouth as he yawned.

As his eyes squeezed shut with his yawn, your blood ran cold as you saw one of the Wraiths moving behind him. You begged your body to do something, anything to warn him. Just as his name was forming on your lips—a cry of warning—the Wraiths both descended on him.

Jeno tumbled down to the ground, clearly caught off-guard in that moment. One of the Wraiths had somehow acquired a random wooden pallet that had been discarded in the alleyway, and sent it flying at Jeno. He sent it in the direction of the other Wraith with a rather disinterested flick of his wrist. The Wraith dodged it.

As you watched on, you felt yourself entranced by their red orbs once again. Hauntingly familiar to you. And not just because you’ve encountered Wraiths twice now. This familiarity echoed deep within you, sending a shiver up your spine. Even though you knew their focus was on Jeno, you still felt like they were staring directly at you, watching you.

Jeno ducked out of the way of a trashcan projectile, drawing the fight back out of the alley and onto the visible sidewalk. A mailbox was suddenly ripped from the ground and became mobile, sailing right at one of the Wraiths. It struck the Wraith but didn’t dissipate it like before. Instead, it seemed more enraged.

The Tengu took another step back from the Wraiths, foot stepping down from the sidewalk and onto the street. With horror, you heard the sound of a car engine motoring down a nearby road, and prayed that it wasn’t moving your way.

But it was, the shape barely visible without its headlights on. There were no streetlights either, the only light provided by the moon, which was barely a sliver in the sky.

Then you were running, running for Jeno as the car barreled right for him.

“Car!” You yelled out to him through burning lungs.

His focus snapped from the Wraiths to you instead, confusion on his features. He either hadn’t understood what you said, or why you had said it. Either way, he was about the get ran over by a not-very-small truck.

You were still yelling at him as you sprinted, “Car! Car! Get out of the damn street! Car!”

Jeno seemed to finally understand what you had said, only taking a split-second to look at the approaching vehicle before diving out of the street and onto the sidewalk. And with barely enough time, as the driver had looked up right then, swerving out of the way of where Jeno had previous been, long honk following. You finally reached Jeno, kneeling down beside him as he tried to pick himself up from the position he had thrown himself into.

He had enough wits about him to disappear his wings as the driver of the car jogged up to the two of you, “Holy shit, are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, just a scrape or two,” Jeno grunted as he stood up, shaking off your helping hands.

“What were you doing in the street, dude?”

“Not paying attention, obviously.”

“Why were you driving at night without headlights?” You questioned the driver, finally getting a good look at his face beneath his sweater hood in the dim light. “Mark?”

“Oh hey, Y/N,” your classmate’s eyes were the same circular shape as his glasses as he regarded you with great surprise. “I didn’t even realize it was you with all the adrenaline and shit.”

“Yeah, me neither,” you agreed, your concern for Jeno earlier clouding your mind from even recognizing the driver’s voice.

“Sorry about that again, my headlights are broken. I’ve been meaning to get them fixed but, you know the starving college student life.”

Jeno was regarding Mark with narrowed eyes and thinly-laced suspicion, his voice monotonous as he replied, “Yeah, we do. Nobody got hurt, so it’s all good. See you.”

He pivoted on his heel away from the other man, but Mark’s next words stopped him in his tracks, “I’ll give you guys a ride to wherever you were going. Please, I feel really bad about this.”

Looking around, the Wraiths had disappeared in the chaos, and without even glancing at the time, you knew it was almost time for your patrol to be over anyway. You were sure that Jeno would leap at the chance to get off his feet and get a free ride instead of walking.

Instead, he was practically glaring at Mark as he rejected the kind offer, “We’re fine walking. Come on, Y/N.”

You were absolutely bewildered, giving Mark an apologetic look as you slowly moved to follow the Tengu. Mark simply gave you an understanding smile and farewell wave in return. Mouthing a ‘sorry, thanks’ to him, you lightly jogged to catch up with Jeno, who was speed-walking away from the scene.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Lee Jeno?” You hissed at him, hurrying your own pace to keep up with him.

“I hope you get your powers really fucking soon, for my sake,” the Tengu groaned, back to his usual unpleasant demeanor.

You took a deep breath to get a hold on your anger, not wanting to go with your immediate reaction of defense and mutual spite. As levelly as you could, you said, “Jeno, what was that?”

“Is he your friend?”

“Kind of; we sit together in Lit, and we’ve gotten lunch at the dining hall a couple times,” you answered, confused as to why he felt the need to gather that information.

Jeno shook his head, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “We’ve still got a patrol to finish up.”

“I think the others would understand us not finishing the patrol.”

As he continued his fast pace down the sidewalk, you couldn’t bring yourself to argue with him. But the entire encounter you just had with the Wraiths was changing your perspective of the Tengu. He put your safety first, keeping you away from the Wraiths and their attention on him rather than you. And you weren’t so scared anymore.

“Jeno.”

“Hm?”

You hurried ahead of him and turned around, walking backwards to stick a finger in his direction with a pointed look on your face, “You and I are going to be friends.”

“What?” He stopped in his tracks, glaring at you, “Why?”

“Because Jaemin thinks we are.”

“So?”

“I can’t lie to Jaemin.”

“You seemed pretty good at it at the café.”

“Because you put me in a situation where I had to!” You argued, trying to control the boiling of your blood.

Jeno was silent for a moment before he sighed, eyes cast aside as he bitterly agreed, “I don’t like lying to him either.”

“Good,” you nodded soundly, continuing on. “Then we should be friends.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Silence.

“We’re almost done, right?”

“Yeah, just another mile or so to where it ends at my apartment building,” you informed him after taking another look at the map. “Then we have to report in the group chat.”

“I’ll make the report,” he declared, and you couldn’t conceal your surprise at Jeno actually offering to do more work and spend any more time than necessary not sleeping.

You wanted to insist on doing it yourself, but in that moment, it seemed like there was no room for arguing with him. With a resigned sigh, you accepted, “Okay, thanks, Jeno.”

“What are friends for?”

The smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes, the slight pep in his tone feeling disingenuous. You nodded, giving him your own half-hearted one, worry settling on your features after breaking eye contact.

* * *

Tucked into the corner of your couch later that night with the sounds of Taeyong rustling around in your kitchen, you read everybody’s reports in the group chat.

[renjun: tweedle dee and tweedle dum weren’t as insufferable as they usually are. we passed a few wraiths here and there but they didn’t cause us any trouble]

[yuta: what did you just call me?]

[renjun: tweedle dee]

You giggled at his nicknames for Yuta and Taeyong, glancing up at your own half of the pair who was leaving your kitchen with stuffed cheeks.

[yuta: omg should i get pretty kitty and i matching shirts?]

[sicheng: Johnny and I completed our route at 10:14 PM. There was a strong presence of wraiths on 4th street. Despite exchanging some words with them, there was no escalation into a physical altercation and we left the scene peacefully.]

Sicheng’s very formal report brought a fond smile to your face, thoroughly enjoying the diverseness of your friends’ mannerisms. Taeyong plopped down beside you, turning into his cat form to curl up on the couch beside you, warm body pressed against your leg.

[jeno: we ran into the two wraiths from the café, they remembered me. y/n and i both got out fine]

That was it? He wasn’t going to bring up any specifics about the fight, or the fact that it ended because he almost got hit by a car, and that you knew who was driving the car, too?

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” Taeyong questioned.

Your disgruntlement must have been present on your face, and you forced your expression to relax out the of the frown and furrowed brows you had just then.

“Nothing, Taeyong, just thinking,” you shook off his worries, rubbing behind his ears in an attempt to distract him from the subject. “The guys sent in their reports from our patrol tonight.”

“What did Yuta and Renjun say about ours?”

“Renjun did the report. He said you guys saw a couple Wraiths but nothing really happened.”

Taeyong seemed content with this, flopping over onto his back to give you access to his much softer belly fur.

As you gently pet him, you added with some humor in your voice, “He also called you and Yuta Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum.”

He rolled back onto his front, ears turning back angrily, “I’m going to scratch that Satori’s green eye out next time I see him.”

“Oh shush, I think the fact that he gave you guys nicknames is cute,” you dismissed his anger, offering a hand back out, which he immediately rubbed his forehead against, clearly deciding that head rubs were much more important than Renjun and Yuta. And you decided to leave it at that instead of bringing up Yuta’s joking plan of buying them matching shirts.

* * *

Several days later, a knock came at your front door, and you leapt up from your couch, “Coming!”

Turning back to Taeyong, who was perched on the arm of your couch in cat form, you reached out to rub his face, “I’ll see you later, bud. Don’t eat my Goldfish please, you have your own food.”

He simply _mrowed_ in response, leaning into your affectionate touch. You tucked your phone into your pocket and moved to your door. Opening it, you greeted your friend with a smile, “Hey, NaNa!”

You were surprised to see two figures in your hallway. Jeno was with Jaemin as well, a yawn already coming from his mouth.

“Where’s Tama?” Jaemin demanded, and you quickly squeezed into the hallway and slammed your door shut.

“You are not harassing him today,” you declared, locking your door behind you.

“I don’t harass him, I love him!”

“The feeling is not mutual.”

“Anyway, I figured you wouldn’t mind me bringing Jeno along, right?”

Right, Jaemin thought that you and Jeno were hanging out and on better terms.

“Oh, yeah. Hey, Jeno.”

Jeno rolled his eyes, “Hey.”

“Let’s go!” Jaemin said excitedly, leading the way to the stairwell.

Today, Jaemin had invited you out to a fair that had come into town, proclaiming that it had been too long since you guys had been to one. You were pretty sure the last time was just a month or two ago, but you couldn’t exactly argue with the offer. It sounded like fun. Good, wholesome, _human_ fun. A nice break from Ayakashi and Wraiths and Onmyoji. Or so you thought, until Jaemin had of course dragged along his Ayakashi roommate.

The fair was on the outskirts of town, a large clearing not too far from Jungwoo and Yukhei’s shrine, actually. You briefly wondered if they would visit the fair as well, since it was so close to their home.

After buying your tickets, Jaemin hooked an arm around both yours and Jeno’s necks, pulling you closer to him as he was practically vibrating with excitement, “We haven’t all hung out like this since we met! You guys remember that?”

Of course you remembered that day.

It was a rather dreary and cold January day, you and Jaemin had just a few days left of your winter break before your last semester of grade school started up, and your friend had insisted on taking a walk together at a park by your houses. When you neared the tree you planned to sit down under, you spotted someone laying at the base of the trunk. At first, the both of you thought it was a homeless person, but as you got even closer, you saw that it was a boy who looked around your age, taking a nap. As you scoffed and wondered how somebody could possibly be sleeping outside in this weather, Jaemin was approaching the boy. You begged Jaemin to just leave the kid alone, but your friend ignored you and instead gently shook the sleeping boy’s shoulder. When he didn’t stir, Jaemin pressed two fingers to his jugular to check for a pulse. It was then that the boy suddenly woke up, sending Jaemin falling onto his ass in the snow in surprise. Jaemin was unfazed, laughing at himself and standing back up, introducing the both of you to the boy who you would learn was Lee Jeno. Jaemin invited him to join the both of you for hot chocolate that day and kept in contact with him for the rest of your school year, eventually convincing him to apply to same college as you two and be his roommate.

“We all got lunch together the other day,” Jeno grumbled.

“A lunch that was interrupted by that fight! That doesn’t count!”

“Yeah, it’s been a while, NaNa,” you agreed brightly, not wanting to kill Jaemin’s overflowing joy at his friends supposedly being friends.

“What should we do first? A ride? Games?”

“No games,” you snorted. “You suck at those.”

“Hey!”

“You do suck,” Jeno echoed, much to your surprise. Maybe he _was_ actually going to own up to your agreement to be friends for Jaemin’s sake.

Jaemin was anything but fazed by this, “Oh! That stuffed cat’s so cute!”

Exchanging a glance with Jeno, the two of you followed him over to the ring toss. The first few tosses of the colorful rings, Jaemin entirely missed the peg. Like you said, he sucked, there’d be no way he’d win anything.

As his nose wrinkled up in frustration, he threw another blue ring. It was looking like another miss when it suddenly changed directions, landing on the peg for the highest points. And the next one he threw landed there too. The attendant at the game watched on with wide eyes. A movement was in the bottom of your periphery, and you glanced down. It was Jeno’s fingers, twitching in just the slightest, but definitely moving in time with the ring as Jaemin threw them. When he’d gotten through all the rings, Jaemin had accumulated enough points to get the cat he had been longing for.

The teenager working the booth seemed to hesitate for a moment, but probably wasn’t getting paid enough to give a shit about this suspicious player, and gave him the prize.

Jaemin squeezed the plush to his chest tightly, “It looks like Tama, doesn’t it?”

He was right, the cat plushie had white fur and big blue eyes, just like the cat form of your Nekomata.

“Now you can harass that instead of my cat,” you said pointedly, trying to conceal your amusement at how obsessed your friend was with your cat that wasn’t actually a cat and was really a fully-grown man.

“Never! Now come on, let’s go on a ride!”

* * *

You were tired.

Who wouldn’t be tired after being pulled around a fair for four hours by Na Jaemin? In that moment, you sympathized with Jeno’s yawn, your own following after his.

“Lunch break?” Jaemin offered, having some consideration for the state you and Jeno were in.

“Please,” you agreed desperately. “Water too.”

“On it!”

Turning to Jeno, you couldn’t find him for a moment, until you caught sight of a sleeping figure on a nearby bench. And you honestly couldn’t blame him this time. If just existing tired him out, keeping up with Jaemin at a fair must have left him completely exhausted.

“I’ll get him a hot dog,” Jaemin shrugged, motioning towards the line for a food vendor. “Stand in line with me?”

“Sure,” you said, much to the complaint of your burning legs.

As you half-stood and half-leaned on Jaemin in the long line, you clutched the plush he’d won closer to your chest. He’d let you hold it, but not before letting you know that it was _his_ Tama plush and it was going home with _him_ , not you. You didn’t argue, of course. You had your own real ‘Tama’ at home.

“You’re tired,” your friend commented, tapping your arm to let you know that the two of you were going to shuffle up in the line.

Once you had, you resumed your leaning against him, eyes fluttering open and shut, “Mm, just a little.”

“Go sit with Jeno, I’ll be good here by myself.”

“No, no, I’m staying with you. Besides, Jeno’s taking up the whole bench anyway.”

He chuckled, “Push him off of it.”

“You’re right.”

“Hey,” he caught your attention as you went to leave the line.

Turning back around, you looked at him attentively, waiting for his next words.

“I really am glad you two are friends, you know.”

You felt your chest twinge just a bit, “I’m glad that you’re glad.”

* * *

A cool breeze tickled your face, countered by the warm tea you were sipping on. You were visiting Jungwoo like you’d promised, your visits typically consisting of having tea with the old Ayakashi and listening to his stories from the seemingly hundreds of years he’s lived. Right now, he had just told you a rather embarrassing story of Johnny when he was young—apparently Jungwoo had known his family since Johnny’s dad’s birth—and you were struggling not to spill your tea as you chuckled.

The rustling of grass outside the shrine caught your attention, and you just figured that it was Yukhei returning from his trip into town. Taking another sip of your tea, you glanced over at the approaching figure, surprised at who it was.

Jeno was at the shrine, his black wings out, typical glasses and baseball cap on as well. With his hands stuffed in his pockets, he regarded you with a rather emotionless face.

“Oh, you’re here,” he shifted his weight from one leg to another as Jungwoo went to stand up.

“Excuse me, Lady Onmyoji—”

You were getting used to Jungwoo’s title for you, having finally given up on him calling you by your actual name.

“No, Jungwoo, it’s fine,” Jeno stopped him from doing whatever he was about to do. “Never mind. Just… forget I was here.”

Jungwoo looked at him with surprise, “Are you sure, my friend?”

The Tengu didn’t answer him, but you guessed that was enough, as Jungwoo’s light smile returned.

“Very well. Would you like to join the Lady Onymoji and I for tea?”

“No, no, I’ve got somewhere to be,” he declined, glancing at his phone. “Yeah, Jaemin just texted me so…”

And with that, he disappeared back out of the shrine.

“That was strange,” you commented, still looking off in the direction he had left in. “Why’d he come all the way out here?”

Jungwoo didn’t respond, and when you looked back at him, he was dropping a sugar cube into his cup with intense focus, seemingly not aware of you.

“Jungwoo,” you went to get the Tsukumo-gami’s attention. “Why was Jeno here?”

“I am an apothecary as well, some of our friends come to me for help with their ailments.”

“What’s wrong with Jeno?”

Jungwoo held out a sugar cube between the dainty silver tongs, “Sugar, Lady Onmyoji?”

Now you were definitely sure he was trying to avoid this conversation. But it wasn’t really your place to pry into Jeno’s health, and with a resigned sigh, you held your teacup out to him, “Yes, please.”

Your friend dropped it in, and with a swirling mind, you blankly watched the block of sugar dissolve into the heat of your tea. With your mind still on Jeno, you suddenly remembered your first patrol, and his lack of proper reporting of it, and that reminded you of something you wanted to ask Jungwoo.

“Can I tell you something, Jungwoo?”

“Of course.”

“You can’t tell anybody about it, I just need to talk about it to someone.”

“I do not have very many people to tell aside from my brother. And if I did, I would not.”

“Okay, so we’ve all been going on these patrols at night, they were Sicheng’s idea. Just to kind of keep an eye on the city and the Wraiths around town. The very first one we went on a couple weeks ago, Jeno and I were paired up. We ran into a couple Wraiths that had attacked the café before, the ones that he had dissipated. And they said something weird.”

Jungwoo was listening with rapt attention, and at your pause, gestured for you to continue.

“When they were talking about me, they said something about being ordered to keep an eye on me, and that they weren’t allowed to hurt me.”

Your friend sighed and set his teacup down, “It is as I feared.”

“What, Jungwoo? What’s happening?”

“Someone is controlling the Wraiths.”

“Who would—”

“Another Onmyoji. A very powerful one. I am not sure for what purpose they have assumed power over the Wraiths of the city, but no matter their intention, this will only lead them down a terrible path.”

Your blood ran cold. There was another Onmyoji in the city who wanted to keep an eye on you. Why? You could only assume the worst.

Jungwoo spoke again, “When is the next meeting?”

“Uh, we have another round of patrols tonight,” you checked the time on your phone, not missing his eyes fixating on the screen. “In just a few hours.”

“I will come with you.”

You were stunned, eyes widening and mouth slightly agape. Johnny had said that Jungwoo hadn’t left the shrine in a very long time, seemingly insinuating that he didn’t want to. He had modern clothes, but from what you could tell, it was Yukhei who would go down into town and do his clothes shopping for him.

And yet there was a determination in the Ayakashi’s eyes as he knelt, beginning to clean up the tea set, “I will join you when you depart, Lady Onmyoji.”

“Are you sure, Jungwoo?”

“Yes, I believe now is the time to give up my hermit life. I know that Johnny did not ask for my or my brother’s assistance on your patrols because he did not want to pull me from the shrine. But everything must come to an end and start something anew.”

Jungwoo hurried further into the shrine, and you warily followed him through the open rooms.

“Where are you meeting?”

“Johnny’s café. Lenticular Café.”

He found a note pad and scrawled something with a pen on the top sheet, ripping it off. Deftly tossing it up in the air, it took the shape of an origami butterfly, and flew out of the shrine.

“I sent word to my brother. He is down in the town as well, he will meet us at Johnny’s café once he has finished his business there.”

“Uh, well I’m not going right to the café since it isn’t time yet, so I guess you can hang in my apartment with Taeyong and I until then.”

“You are very kind, Lady Onmyoji.”

* * *

At your apartment, you worked to unlock the door as Jungwoo took in the marvels of modern-day apartment buildings. Not like yours was all that fancy, but even just electrical lighting seemed to be a miracle to him. It really had been a while since he’d been out of the shrine.

“Yukhei would describe the advancements humans have made to me, but it is much more brilliant in person,” Jungwoo admitted, keeping his gentle hold on your elbow that he’d had since the beginning of your descent from the shrine.

“Now you get see them in person. I think my microwave will blow your mind.”

Letting him into your apartment, you flicked the lights on. Taeyong was waiting for you on the coffee table, but immediately changed into his human form when he realized who was with you.

“Oh, it’s the flute guy,” Taeyong looked at him, head tilted curiously. “I thought he never left the shrine.”

“Our current situation calls for it, I am afraid,” Jungwoo informed him, releasing your arm as you went to drop your schoolbag on your coffee table; you’d gone to the shrine right after your classes earlier. “It is very good to see again, Taeyong.”

“What’s our current situation, exactly? Are you coming on patrol tonight?”

“Yes, I will be joining your patrol tonight.”

You plopped down on your couch, pulling your laptop out from your bag, “I have some homework to submit before we go out. Jungwoo, help yourself to human food or water. Taeyong, eat your cat food, I need to go human food shopping tomorrow.”

Opening it up, you let your Ayakashi friends’ conversation fade into the background as you quickly opened up your online homework center. Of course your Chemistry professor had assigned homework due by midnight tonight. And you couldn’t exactly tell her that you couldn’t do it because you had to go on a patrol around the city to make sure the evil Wraiths were behaving.

As you went to do the first problem, you were aware of Jungwoo sitting beside you, peering over your shoulder curiously.

“Hey, Jungwoo,” you gave him a side glance. “Uh, this is a laptop. A computer. Okay, I don’t how much about technology you know.”

“Yukhei has told me some things about the… world wide web.”

“Yeah, I’m using it right now to do my Chem homework.”

“Jungwoo,” Taeyong got the Tsukumo-gami’s attention, and when you both looked at him, he had the TV remote in his hand. “Check this out.”

And when he turned the TV on, your friend’s attention was immediately turned to that instead. Giving a thankful nod to the Nekomata, you were able to now truly focus on your assignment.

* * *

With one arm in Jungwoo’s gentle grasp and Taeyong’s own protectively around your shoulders, you were sure that the three of you were garnering some interested looks as you walked down the streets. It wasn’t _too_ weird, but the three of you were also taking up almost the entire sidewalk. Finally, you turned onto Bell Street. Gently shaking your two Ayakashi off, you opened the lilac purple door of Lenticular Café, the delightful bell above the door tinkling as you did so. It had been the finishing touch of your redesign of the restaurant.

Unsurprisingly, Johnny, Renjun, and Sicheng were already there; Johnny and Renjun literally lived there, and Sicheng was never late to a patrol.

“Jungwoo?” Johnny’s surprise was clear as he greeted his friend.

“Yes, Y/N’s visit today gave me reason to leave the shrine,” he confirmed.

“I told you we should’ve just asked him!” Renjun snapped at the Domeki.

“No, this isn’t a good thing, Renjun,” Johnny hissed at him. “Not that I’m not glad to see you, Jungwoo. But the fact that he’s left the shrine means that something very bad is happening.”

Jungwoo sadly agreed, “I am afraid you are correct, my friend. My presence is a bad omen here.”

“What’s happening, Jungwoo?” Sicheng spoke up.

“I have already told the Lady Onmyoji, but I would like to wait for everybody to be here before I explain.”

“The others should be here in a couple minutes.”

“I requested that my brother join as well, I hope that is alright with everyone.”

Jeno, Yukhei, and Yuta arrived within minutes of each other, and with everyone settled around a center table—your group now _just_ too big to fit in a booth—Jungwoo began addressing the group.

“I am glad to be here with all of you, however the circumstances regarding my brother and I’s departure from the shrine and arrival into your town are not pleasant ones. You are all clearly aware of the increasing Wraith issue, as evidenced by your patrols. I believe that I know the reason why this is happening. While it is true that the Lady Onmyoji’s presence had initially drawn them in, I now have reason to suspect that the Wraiths are being controlled by another Onmyoji in this city.”

Jeno was just a few seats away from you, his focus suddenly snapping to you accusatorily. You looked away, pretending not to notice his nearly furious gaze on you. He had never explicitly told you not to tell anybody about that night, but his report in the group chat had made it clear enough that his intentions were for nobody else to know the details of it.

“What reason, exactly?” Renjun questioned from between Johnny and Yuta.

You held your breath as you waited for Jungwoo to respond.

“I have been ruminating on what the Lady Onmyoji had told me the first night we met and came to this conclusion during our afternoon tea.”

He remembered the promise you’d asked him accept earlier. You lightly let out your breath, resuming your normal breathing as everybody seemed to accept this reasoning. Except Jeno, who was now regarding both you and Jungwoo with suspicion.

“So what should we do?” Yuta asked. “Question any Wraiths we see?”

“No,” Jungwoo shook his head. “Those with knowledge have the advantage. We should keep the other Onmyoji from learning that we know of them and their control over the Wraiths for as long as possible. Continue your patrols as usual. I believe the Onmyoji may be able to see _through_ the Wraiths, so be wary of that. My brother and I will assist wherever you ask.”

When you looked over to Yukhei, he was nodding in agreement to his brother’s words. Even without discussing it previously, he was ready to go along with and trust Jungwoo’s decision.

“Alright,” Sicheng stood, offering his seat to Jungwoo as he then took over standing at the head of the table. “First, a thank you to Jungwoo and Yukhei for joining us. Now, here’s the groups for tonight: Taeyong and Johnny; Renjun, Jeno, and Yuta; Y/N and I. Jungwoo and Yukhei, you two can partner up yourselves or each join a pair.”

“I would like to accompany you and the Lady Onmyoji, if you do not mind,” Jungwoo requested.

“That’s fine with me. Y/N?”

“Yeah, of course!”

“Looks like you’re with us, Yukhei,” Johnny smiled brightly at the other Tsukumo-gami.

Yukhei didn’t seem thrilled, but simply responded to the Domeki with a short nod.

Sicheng took over the conversation again, bringing out his phone, “Okay, I’m sending the routes in the group chat right now.”

Phones around the table dinged, and you scrolled until you found the one the Mizuchi dragon had made for the two of you. It seemed to overlap slightly with Jeno’s group towards the end, you realized as you briefly glanced over the other two routes.

“Everyone be safe. Remember: don’t engage first, only use your powers in self-defense, and don’t expose the supernatural to ordinary passerby.”

At Sicheng’s final words, the group stood up, splitting off into your smaller trios for the night. You walked just behind Sicheng, with Jungwoo once again on your arm. He was never this touchy at the shrine, and you figured that the unfamiliar sights of the town were making him slightly anxious, so you let it slide.

“How long has it been since you’ve been in town, Jungwoo?” You questioned your friend, still amused by how he so eagerly looked around at everything in awe.

“I have lost count of the years… far too many. I think the last time I was down was when I was invited to see Johnny after he was born. He was a very cute kid, you know. More eyes than he knew what to do with.”

You exchanged a look with Sicheng, “And uh, how old is Johnny?”

Sicheng said thoughtfully, “He’s a few decades older than me. Probably around a hundred, if I had to guess.”

“Only a few decades…” your head was spinning. “Then how old are you, Sicheng?”

“Individual years stop mattering at this point.”

“Holy shit, you guys are _all_ old men, not just Johnny.”

“Ayakashi have different lifespans than humans. And even different kind of Ayakashi have different lifespans,” Jungwoo explained. “Satoris’ are closer to humans, while some of the very first Tsukumo-gami from thousands of years ago are still around.”

“Oh my god, really?”

“Yes. Some have adapted to modern times, however most of the older ones of my kind have reclused themselves like I.”

* * *

Your night was beginning to come to a close, just a couple minutes from your apartment. With that, you suddenly realized, “Oh, Jungwoo! Where are you and Yukhei going to—”

A loud yell cut you off, and you whipped around to look for the source of it. The Ayakashi with you were also on alert. It came again, followed by a cry of pain. The sound of someone running met your ears, followed by someone yelling out all your names.

“Sicheng! Jungwoo! Y/N!”

It was Renjun, jade green eye glimmering as he desperately ran towards you guys. He was clearly disheveled, and for a brief moment you were caught off-guard by the fact that he was wearing clothes he hadn’t left the café in—his waiter uniform had become an elegant magenta long sleeve and deep indigo cloak that fluttered out behind him—and he also had a pistol in his hand.

“Wraiths! Jeno, he— and Yuta—”

“Where?” Sicheng demanded, eyes a flaming blue and scales appearing across his cheek and arms. His own clothes changed, now replaced by something resembling a karate gi except deep cerulean in color, black and teal appearing in fine detail along the material.

“This way,” Renjun took off again, the Mizuchi dragon right on his heels.

“Come, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo secured your hand in his tightly before following behind the other two Ayakashi. Your eyes widened as you took in your other friend’s costume change as well; Jungwoo’s modern clothes supplied to him by his brother were no more, a rather ancient-looking silken yukata of a brilliant pastel green color with sakura blossoms all around it having took their place.

Turning down streets, the voices and groans were coming closer. And you immediately knew where Renjun was taking you. On the corner of the street was an abandoned fast food restaurant, the windows all boarded up and parking lot deserted. It was barely lit by a streetlight with one burnt out bulb, the remaining three dimmed or flickering. How appropriately spooky. You couldn’t even see either one of your friends, too many Wraiths blocking your vision with their dark forms. A swirling mass of them all around a central point, presumably your two missing friends.

“There’s even more of them,” Renjun declared. “And I don’t…”

Sicheng didn’t acknowledge the Satori, immediately whipping his arm out, looking as if he were throwing a baseball. A stream of water shot forth from behind the restaurant, slamming into the Wraiths. A hole opened up for a split-second, and Yuta tumbled out from within.

“Yuta!” You called out to him, letting go of Jungwoo’s hand to run towards him.

The kitsune met you halfway, stumbling into your arms. But your worry was still on the missing Tengu.

“Where’s Jeno?” You asked, squeezing onto Yuta’s forearms desperately.

He didn’t answer, eyes transfixed on the terrifying conglomeration of Wraiths.

“Yuta!” You yelled out his name, shaking his arms. “Yuta! Where’s Jeno?”

But you already knew, your heart dropping from your chest. Turning back to the scene behind you, you saw the other three Ayakashi working to break through the wall of Wraiths. Sicheng was sending powerful attacks of water against them, but this time they weren’t caught off-guard like before. Renjun was firing individual shots at the outer edges of the mass.

“Cover your ears!” Jungwoo warned everybody, and you released Yuta’s arms to do so, slapping your hands over your ears.

He brought a thin wooden flute up to his lips, and you saw the massive form begin to tremble, individual Wraiths now visible as small cracks and spaces between them opened up. You were able to see just a glimpse of Jeno, on his knees and writhing in terrible pain.

Jungwoo must have seen it too, halting his song and putting his flute back into his pocket, “I cannot play my song without also harming Jeno.”

Sicheng brought a column of water up and slammed it down onto the top of the mass instead this time.

“Every time I hit them, they just reform,” the Mizuchi dragon shook his head, but sent another concentrated attack.

Renjun cocked his pistol, but didn’t fire, “If I keep shooting, I might end up hitting Jeno.”

You were useless. Absolutely fucking useless. But you had an idea anyway.

“I have a plan. And don’t argue with me, please trust me,” you spoke up. “Jungwoo, you play your song just long enough to weaken them for Sicheng to hit them again. Sicheng, I know this means you won’t be able to cover your ears but I’m begging you. And once we get another opening, I’ll go in.”

“You can’t do that, idiot!” Renjun yelled out, and despite his harsh words, you knew it was out of concern for you.

“I said don’t argue with me!”

Jungwoo, looking rather forlorn, brought his flute back up to his lips, “Very well, Lady Onmyoji.”

“I’m ready when you are, Jungwoo,” Sicheng agreed, hand opened up to the skies as a huge column of water was at the ready.

Then a pair of arms were around your waist, and you struggled against the owner, “Yuta! Let me go!”

“No.”

“Yuta! What the fuck are you doing?” You continued struggling, not wanting to hurt your friend. “I can do this! I’m trying to help Jeno, what the fuck’s wrong with you?”

Yuta held steadfast, voice right beside your ear as he calmly said, “I agreed to help _you_ , Y/N. Not my brother’s killer.”

Your struggling stopped, arms going limp as your head spun at his words. You were shocked out of your stupor by Jeno quite literally flying right by you. And not by the power of his own wings.

The Tengu’s flight was abruptly stopped by his body smacking into the side of the building with a sickening _thud_.

“Let me _go_!” You roared, finally losing your patience and throwing your fist back. It impacted with something on Yuta’s face, and he loosened his grip on you enough for you to escape.

Making a break for Jeno, you were aware of your other three friends following you. In your peripheral, you could see their backs to you, protecting you and Jeno as they faced down the Wraiths.

“Jeno?” You called his name out, rolling him over onto his side. “Jeno, come on.”

The sounds of your friends fending off the Wraiths met your ears as you desperately tried to get Jeno to respond to you. Finally, he groaned, eyes fluttering open.

“Oh thank god. Come on, don’t fall asleep on us now, Tengu,” you warned him.

“Y/N,” he grunted.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m right here, Jeno.”

“No, Y/N,” he firmly shook his head, grabbing it in pain. “Wraiths…”

You whipped your head around, blood freezing when you saw that none of your friends were there anymore. They were all scattered through the parking lot, struggling to get onto their own two feet.

Now you were fed up.

“Why can’t you leave us alone?” You cried out, staring directly into the glowing orbs of the central Wraith. Your ice-cold blood was now a boiling current as you continued, addressing the Onmyoji controlling them, “Whoever you are, looking in on me and fucking up my friends, just _piss off!_ ”

A white-hot fireball of energy roared through your system. It burst forth from you, expanding as it covered the entire parking lot. You couldn’t see through it, screwing your eyes shut against the painfully bright light. When light was no longer pouring through your eyelids, you cautiously opened them up in narrow slits. Upon seeing no remnants of the mysterious light or the Wraiths, you let out a shaky sigh.

“Holy shit, Y/N,” said an awestruck voice from behind you, and you turned your attention back to Jeno.

“Jen…o? You—you okay?” You asked, gritting your teeth against the searing pain enveloping your being in that moment.

You completely missed his response, darkness overtaking your vision quickly.

* * *

“I can feel the power radiating off of her…”

“I get it, I owe you $20 now, Johnny.”

“That’s not what I meant, Renjun. This isn’t good.”

“Weren’t you the one who kept trying to awaken her powers?”

“I didn’t realize she was _this_ powerful.”

“That ogre said she was the most powerful one in like a million years or something.”

“A _millennium_ , Taeyong, that’s a thousand years, not a million.”

“Johnny’s right. If the Wraiths were drawn to her before when her powers were dormant, just the awakening of them earlier will bring them in hordes. Ones that don’t have directions not to hurt her.”

The voices of your friends floated to your ears, the content worrying enough. But you couldn’t really care much about them when your head was _pounding_. You groaned, shifting around on whatever you were lying on.

“Oh, you waking up, Y/N?” A familiar voice questioned from your side.

“Head hurts,” you were barely able to mumble.

“I’ll get you some ibuprofen.”

The owner of the voice’s name suddenly came to you, “Jeno.”

“Yeah?”

Squinting your eyes open, you saw that you were in your bed at your apartment, Jeno standing in your room. You noticed that he winced and grabbed at his side a little as he turned to face you. Now able to see his face, you spotted some cuts and scrapes with half-assed attempts to patch them up.

“You really got fucked up, Jeno.”

He chuckled softly, “You look like shit too, Y/N.”

“Is that Y/N?” Taeyong’s voice yelped from your living room.

The thundering of feet came closer until the white-haired Nekomata was in your room. Jeno barely managed to catch him before he flung himself at you, “Woah, Taeyong, she just woke up, slow down.”

“Hey, little lady, good to see those bright eyes again,” Johnny smiled down at you, coming to stand at your bedside.

Sicheng, Renjun, Jungwoo, and Yukhei were in your room as well.

“Hey, guys,” you greeted them all, moving to try to sit up, but a sharp pain in your head incapacitated you again.

“Oh, ibuprofen!” Jeno disappeared from the room, freeing Taeyong up to switch into a cat and leap up onto your bed with you.

He hesitantly pressed up against your side, tail flicking anxiously. You gave his back a couple reassuring pats.

“You did well tonight, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo nodded kindly to you.

“Yeah, you finally got your powers,” Renjun masked his pride with a fake scoff.

With a frown, you realized that someone was missing, “Where’s Yuta?”

Hesitant looks were exchanged among your friends. None of them had answered when Jeno came back in, water in one hand and pills in the other.

“Your medicine cabinet is a mess,” he informed you, depositing the tablets into your open palm and helping you bring the glass to your lips.

You glared at him, unable to return his snark with a mouthful of water. After knocking back the pills, you let yourself sink back into your pillows.

“So I’m really an Onmyoji now, huh?”

“You’ve always been an Onmyoji,” Johnny pointed out.

“Yeah, but now I’ve actually got my powers, you know?”

Jeno added humorously, “And a sick new tat.”

“What?” You looked at him in confusion.

“Let’s show her, guys.”

With differing levels of enthusiasm—or lack thereof—five of your friends turned and pulled down the back of their collars, revealing a matching symbol across the backs of their necks.

Sicheng, Jungwoo, Johnny, Renjun, and Jeno each had an intricate lotus blossom on their skin in the exact same place. Your eyes widened as they turned back around.

“What were those?”

“Bond marks. You’ve got one too,” Sicheng informed you, and your hand instinctually went to the back of your neck.

“Really? Let me see! Someone take a picture.”

“Can’t really do that,” Renjun said.

“Why not?”

“Bond marks don’t normally show up in pictures. They’re also not usually visible to non-supernatural beings during most situations.”

“They’re visible to other Ayakashi, Wraiths, and Onmyoji most of the time,” Johnny continued the explanation. “The only time they can be photographed is when they’re visible to ordinary humans.”

“When’s that?”

“Situations we wouldn’t typically have ordinary humans around for.”

Jungwoo spoke this time, “When we are in battle form, Lady Onmyoji. That is when they are visible to all.”

“Battle form… was that the weird clothes you guys were wearing earlier?” You thought back to your friends’ mysterious costume changes from earlier, and how they were all in normal clothes once again.

“I don’t think mine is that weird,” Renjun turned his nose up, clearly a bit miffed at your judgment of his battle form attire.

“You have a _cape_ ,” you retorted. “Yours is probably the _most_ ridiculous.”

Still wanting to see your mark, you swung your legs over the edge of your bed. Your friends started fussing over you, and you shook them off, “I’m fine, I can walk a few feet to my bathroom. I wanna see the mark.”

On hesitant feet, you shuffled out of your bedroom to your bathroom right next to it in the hallway. You rifled through your drawer for a second before securing a small handheld mirror. Hopping up onto your bathroom counter with your back to your large vanity mirror, you then held up the smaller mirror, tilting and turning until you had the right angle.

And there it was, your own lotus blossom on the back of your neck, exactly matching your friends.’

“So what are these, exactly?” You questioned the guys who all were either in the doorway of your bathroom or right outside it in the hallway.

“An Onmyoji will have five uh… ‘perfect-fit’ Ayakashi, I guess is a way to put it?” Jeno started off, brow furrowed as he was seemingly trying to figure out the right way to explain it.

Sicheng took over, “True Ayakashi is the term used mostly. Onmyoji can use the powers of any willing Ayakashi, but their own five True Ayakashi will render the most power to them.”

“And it looks like you’ve got all five of yours right here!” Johnny said cheerily, throwing his arms around Jungwoo and Sicheng’s shoulders.

“The marks are only activated once the Onmyoji’s powers have awoken, so nobody really knew we were all connected like this until tonight in the parking lot.”

“What does it say about us that our spiritual bond or whatever was activated in an abandoned fast food parking lot?” You snorted, bringing the small mirror up to look at the mark again, fingers gracing over the delicate petals of the blossom.

“That we’re cheap and trashy?” Renjun suggested, making you chuckle.

Putting the mirror back down, you slid off your bathroom counter and started shooing the guys out of your way so you could get through them to your kitchen. It was still dark outside, and you finally saw the time, almost midnight. Your head was still throbbing, but more importantly, your stomach was growling.

“I don’t have enough food for everybody,” you admitted as you opened your pantry.

“We should be heading out anyway, leave you to rest,” Johnny reassured you, looking pointedly at the Satori.

“Don’t look at me like that, I wasn’t about to disagree with you, old man.”

“Come on, Jungwoo, Yukhei.”

“Are you taking them back to the shrine?” You questioned, following them as they started towards your door.

Jungwoo answered your question, “Since I am one of your Ayakashi, Lady Onmyoji, we concluded that it is best for me to remain close to you. Johnny has so kindly offered a place for my brother and I to stay.”

“I go where Jungwoo goes,” Yukhei said before you could question why he was staying as well.

“Okay, well, thank you, guys. All of you,” you saw them off at your front door.

“Rest well, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo gave your forearm a gentle squeeze.

Johnny was next up, “What time do your classes start tomorrow?”

“I have a 9 am.”

“Skip it. You deserve to sleep in,” he patted your head.

“Seriously, idiot, sleep tomorrow,” Renjun mumbled, his ears a light pink despite his harsh words. “You’ll be useless if you don’t.”

Yukhei gave you a short nod, “Bye.”

“See you guys,” you waved to them all, watching as they started towards your stairwell.

Before you could close the door, Sicheng was there, “I have to go as well, I’m opening the store for your parents tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Sicheng.”

“You did good tonight, Y/N. Like the others said, get some sleep, don’t push yourself too hard the next couple days.”

“I won’t. Bye.”

“Bye.”

And that left you with Taeyong and Jeno. Turning back around, you were expecting Jeno to be the next to leave. However, your eyes landed on your couch, where a sleeping Jeno laid. Of course he fell asleep. And for once, you really didn’t feel any annoyance over it. Instead, there was a strange pull at your chest as you watch his own rise up and down.

Remembering that his own wounds seemed to be thrown to the wayside earlier, you went to your medicine cabinet. Jeno was right, it was a mess, but you couldn’t worry too much about that right then. With almost everyone gone, you could feel the pain in your head receding. The ibuprofen was kicking in.

“I’ll kick him out,” Taeyong announced, in his human form as he started to approach the sleeping Tengu.

“Leave him, Taeyong,” you chastised him. “He can sleep here, I don’t mind.”

While your Nekomata didn’t seem too thrilled about this, he still obeyed, watching you with interest as you carried a damp paper towel and box of bandaids over to the couch. Jeno was taking up most of the couch, so you plopped yourself and your supplies down on the floor in front of it. Taeyong in his cat form joined you, head tilted to continue observing you.

You first took the damp paper towel to the dried blood on his face, probably originating from the split cheek he had. He breathed in sharply but stayed asleep. Despite it having started scabbing over already, you still gently applied a bandaid to it to protect it from the sun and the elements. There were a few scrapes over his arms, and you maneuvered his limbs about as gently as you could to clean them up and apply bandaids where necessary.

Next was going to be more difficult. He had winced and grabbed his side earlier, so you suspected some kind of abdominal injury. You just hoped it wasn’t a broken rib, _that_ wasn’t something you could attend to in your living room.

Gingerly, you grabbed the hem of the side of his t-shirt and lifted it up the slightest, until you could just glimpse at his ribs. A bruise here and there but they were small, not testifying to any serious damage. The other side was the same, and you decided to just offer up an ice pack to him in the morning.

Despite having taken care of all his injuries that you could, you couldn’t bring yourself to leave him just yet.

“He didn’t leave your side the whole time,” Taeyong’s quiet voice startled you for a moment.

Looking down at your cat, you continued listening to him, “Renjun came and found the rest of us and took us to the parking lot. Jeno was sitting against the wall, holding you. You looked like you were dead. But all the power that was coming from you, we knew you weren’t. It took a couple of us to carry you to your apartment, we would all rotate out. Except Jeno. You weren’t out for too long, but he was with you the whole time in your room.”

You weren’t sure what to do with this information, but your gaze turned back to Jeno, whose face was just a few inches from yours as he slept. That tugging was at your chest again, and you let out a shaky sigh.

“Where was Yuta?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t see foxface when we got there. I was too focused on you to really notice or care why at the moment. You should probably ask Sicheng or Jungwoo.”

“Thank you, Taeyong,” you rubbed behind his ear before standing back up, moving to put all your first aid stuff back into your warzone of a medicine cabinet.

“Are you going to bed now?”

“Yeah, once I get some food in me. And turn off my alarm. There is no fucking way I’m going to Calc tomorrow.”

* * *

With a full stomach and no alarm to wake you up later, you gave Jeno’s resting form a single look before flicking your lights off and retreating to your bedroom. Taeyong was already in his cat form, waiting for you on one of your pillows. Curling up under your blankets, you were quick to fall asleep again, the trials of the day washing away as you slipped away into your dreams.


	2. [two]

A light moan passed through your lips as you’re awoken to sunlight filtering through your eyelids. Stretching in bed, you buried your head further into your pillows. You continued drifting in and out of sleep, the passing of time irrelevant to you as your body and mind rested.

Finally, hunger gnawing at your stomach was too bothersome to ignore, and you quite literally rolled out of bed, barely sticking the landing. The smell of breakfast floated to your nose, and you wondered who had cooked, considering you were pretty sure Taeyong didn’t know how to use a single thing in your kitchen other than the pantry and fridge.

Your couch was empty, and you peered into the kitchen to see Taeyong in something between his human and true form there. His ears perked up seeing that you were awake, “Good morning!”

“Morning, Yong,” you yawned, grabbing yourself a cup of water. On your counter was a plate of pancakes, the smell that had greeted you before. “You made pancakes?”

He shook his head, “Featherbrain did before he left.”

“Jeno left?” You questioned with a frown; you’d been clinging onto the idea that he was in the bathroom until then, hoping to speak with him this morning.

“Yeah, a couple of hours ago. I reheated the pancakes for you when you started waking up.”

“Thanks. Have you eaten, Taeyong?”

“Yes, he even made enough for me too.”

A fond smile tugged at your lips as you grabbed the pancakes and your water, sitting yourself down on your couch with Taeyong not far behind.

The Nekomata sat down on the floor in front of you, head turned to look at you as you picked up your TV remote, “How do you feel, Y/N?”

“Fine,” you answered monotonously, choosing a random show to put on as background noise while you ate.

Your focus was actually on your disappearing guest this morning and disappearing friend from last night, Yuta’s accusation ringing through your head.

_‘My brother’s killer.’_

* * *

After slowly working through your breakfast, you went back into your bedroom to finally look at your phone. You were a bit surprised to see that it was mid-afternoon. You really did sleep in. And also had quite a few missed calls and texts.

There were a couple texts and calls from Jaemin, the texts asking if you wanted to get lunch today between your classes. A bit late for that. Some more texts were in your aptly named ‘Ayakashi Avengers’ group chat or in your private chats with individual members, mostly asking how you were and making sure you knew that you could ask them for anything you needed. You took note that you didn’t have a single message from Yuta in your private chat or in the group chat. And there was a lone text from Jeno in your private chat.

[jeno: call me when you can]

Flopping onto your bed, you pressed the call button on Jeno’s contact, listening to it ring. You began making a mental list of things you wanted to say: thank him for the pancakes… thank him for taking care of you last night… and ask about what Yuta had said. But that last one didn’t feel like a conversation to be had over the phone. Or maybe at all.

A click informed you that he had picked up, “Hey, Y/N!”

Except that wasn’t Jeno.

“Uh, hey, Jaemin. Why are you on Jeno’s phone?”

“He’s in the shower, I told him I’d get it—Ah!”

Your friend’s sudden yelp made you flinch back away from the phone. There were sounds of a struggle behind Jaemin’s yells.

“Jeno! Can you at least put underwear on to attack me? Or rinse the shampoo out of your hair—ugh it’s in my mouth now! Ah! Oh my g—fine! Take it! Take the phone!”

There was silence for a minute, and you hesitantly said, “…Hello?”

“Yeah, hi,” this time it was Jeno’s voice in your ear.

“You told me to call you when I could, so I did. But you didn’t have to…”

“No, I did.”

“So… what’s up?” You winced at yourself when you heard a tense squeak in your voice.

Why were you so nervous to talk to Jeno all of a sudden?

“How are you?”

“Uh, I’m fine. Didn’t go to class today, took everyone’s advice to sleep in. How—how are you?”

“I’m—”

“Wait,” you blurted out, cutting him off. “Were you fully naked when you attacked Jaemin, or—”

“I’ve got a towel on.”

“Ah. Okay.”

Yep, _that’s_ why you were suddenly so nervous to talk to him.

There was a long pause between the two of you before he spoke up again, “I’m fine. Are you good to get dinner tonight? We should talk.”

“I can do that, where?”

“I’ve got somewhere in mind. I’ll come get you later.”

“Okay.”

Another pause.

“I’ve still got shampoo in my hair, so…”

“Oh! Yeah, of course! Go uh, go finish your shower.”

“See you, Y/N.”

“Bye, Jeno.”

Once he hung up, you slammed your phone down onto your comforter. You were truly an embarrassment to yourself.

* * *

A knock at your door caused you to leap up from your couch that evening. You quickly tucked your phone into your pocket and hurried to open the door. Jeno was on the other side, hands stuffed in his pockets as he patiently waited. His cheek was still split and a little bruised around the wound, but his jacket covered up most of his injuries from the night before.

“Hey, Jeno,” you greeted him.

“Hey.” He peered around you, “Where’s Taeyong?”

“Oh, he’s down for a nap right now,” you vaguely gestured behind you, where you knew the sleeping form of a white cat surely was.

As you stepped outside your door and turned back to lock it, you heard Jeno snicker. Looking at him with barely narrowed eyes, you asked, “What’s so funny?”

“I can’t tell if he’s more your pet, your roommate, or your kid.”

“All of the above.”

The both of you chuckled for a moment before he jerked his head towards the stairwell, “Well, let’s go.”

As he turned away from you, your eyes were caught on the lotus on the back of his neck. Your fingers went up to grace where you knew you had your own matching one on your neck.

On the sidewalk outside your apartment, you let him take you through the streets, keeping your conversation light for the moment, “Thank you for the pancakes this morning.”

“After the initial shock of waking up covered in Peppa Pig bandaids, I felt like I had to return the favor.”

You couldn’t help but giggle, “Well, thank you. How did Jaemin react to you not coming back last night and then showing up all beat up?”

“It was harder trying to explain the bandaids than the injuries, actually.”

“I’m sure it was, considering Jaemin gave them to me as a housewarming gift when I moved into my apartment.”

“Yeah, that’s what he was saying,” Jeno readjusted his baseball cap for a moment. “I said that those were all the drugstore had in stock when I went to buy some.”

“How’d you explain the injuries?”

“Street gang.”

“How’s your side, by the way? It seemed like it was hurting yesterday.”

There was a soft half-smile on his lips as he looked over at you, seemingly surprised that you noticed, “Nothing broken, just bruised like hell. But I’m all good.”

You continued through your mental list you had made earlier, “I also want to thank you for helping to take care of me last night. Taeyong said…” for some reason, you couldn’t bring yourself to fully quote him, instead changing his words up a bit, “that you were a lot of help to them.”

“Anything else you’re going to thank me for?”

“I think that’s it.”

“Just making sure,” he said teasingly. “Here’s a blanket ‘you’re welcome’ for anything else you may think of to thank me for today.”

You scoffed, “What makes you think I’m going to have to thank you for anything else?”

He didn’t answer, simply stopping in front of a storefront and holding the door open for you. You gave him a quiet and slightly begrudging ‘thanks’ as you walked in.

Jeno had brought you to a quaint but packed hot pot restaurant. There was no host, and he gestured for you to follow him further in. He chose a small table in the corner, just big enough for the two of you. The other patrons took no note of you, continuing on with their own loud conversations with their friends and family.

“Don’t worry about talking about Ayakashi stuff here,” he informed you, picking up one of the menus already placed on the table. “Nobody can hear us.”

“Got it.”

There was a distinct pause as you both pretended to skim over the menu.

“I can’t believe your battle cry is ‘piss off.’”

“Oh shut up!” You hissed, only making him snicker more.

“It is kind of funny, you have to admit.”

“I’m surprised you were conscious enough to hear that.”

Your comment seemed to sober him up for a moment as he leaned forward, looking even more serious, “Seriously, thank you, Y/N. You saved me last night, and I’ll acknowledge that.”

Dumbfounded, your mouth couldn’t form a proper response, and the waitress arriving saved you from continued embarrassment by coming and taking your order. After she collected your menus and left, you let yourself think about yesterday again.

With a sigh, you realized, “Well, less than an hour after Jungwoo said not to let the other Onmyoji know that we know about them, I did just that.”

“Renjun’s right, you’re an idiot,” Jeno said without a hint of malice, still with a teasing tone.

Not that you were complaining, you liked this new side of Jeno you were seeing, but it was confusing you, “What’s with this all this sudden friendliness, Jeno?”

“We agreed that we’d be friends, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“And I’m one of your Ayakashi.”

“It’s not like I own you guys or anything.”

“I know, but we should still have some level of trust between us to work together properly.”

“Alright, yeah.”

For some reason you were disappointed. This was like… a work dinner, essentially?

After your food had been brought out, you were mostly quiet as you ate. Jeno set his utensil down momentarily to yawn, then said, “Something on your mind, Y/N?”

“Yeah…”

Quite a few things, actually. For a long moment, you couldn’t decide which one to bring up first.

Finally you decided on, “Yuta said something last night.”

Jeno’s voice wavered with fake nonchalance, “Oh, what did he say?”

“When you were still uh, in the Wraith… thing, and he had gotten out, I had an idea to go in and get you. But Yuta grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go help you.”

“Your idea was probably dumb and dangerous.”

“That wasn’t his reason for holding me back,” you shook your head, body shivering as you remembered his tone of voice, the sincerity. “He said that he agreed to help me, but not… ‘his brother’s killer.’”

Jeno froze, the spoon he had just picked up slipping from his grip. Maybe you could’ve approached that with more tact. But _was_ there really a tactful way to ask someone if they had killed your friend’s brother?

You wanted to backpedal so bad, but you were too far in. This couldn’t be glossed over, excused as a slip of the tongue or joke. You’d said it, and now you were stuck with it. Not a sound came out of your mouth as he pushed his food away and sunk back against the booth he was seated in, the tears gathering in his eyes visible behind his glasses.

“Yeah,” he croaked out, gnawing on his bottom lip as if to keep himself from downright sobbing.

 _Terrible._ That’s what you felt. Absolutely _terrible._

He picked his spoon back up, almost robotically returning to eating his food. And you couldn’t bring yourself to say or do anything. You didn’t even want to finish your meal, your appetite suddenly disappearing.

Just a few minutes after you’d completely ruined your evening, Jeno spoke.

“I don’t have the right to do this, but… I need your help, Y/N.”

Your eyes shot open as you looked at him, the whites of his eyes now pink. He reached into his jacket pocket, “You know how I’m always yawning and taking naps, right?”

“How could I not?” The statement was meant to be humorous, but the caution in your voice took the jest right out.

He thrust a small bottle into your hands, as if just holding it was burning his skin. Inside was a navy-blue liquid, and you looked at it curiously, “What is this?”

“A sleeping draught. If you drink the whole thing in one go, you’ll immediately fall asleep for a week. If taken in much smaller doses, it’ll just make you a bit tired, take some naps here and there.”

So _this_ was why he was always sleepy.

“I need your help to stop taking it.”

“Okay…”

“Do you remember when I fell asleep carrying the table?” He suddenly jumped subjects, but you had a feeling it was still related to the draught in your hands.

“Yes.”

“I had snuck off to take more—just a sip, it was just supposed to be a sip. But I heard someone coming and accidentally took too much.”

You couldn’t find the words to reply to that specific story, so you focused on your task at hand, “Okay, so, I’ll keep this away from you— I’ll pour it down the drain when I get home. Jungwoo’s an apothecary, he’s the one who makes it for you, right?”

He nodded.

“I’ll make sure he knows not to give you more,” you assured him, noticing how his eyes followed the movement of the bottle as you tucked it into your own pocket, out of sight.

“It’s more than that…” He grimaced as he spoke, as if he was forcing the words out. “I’ve been taking it for so long. I don’t know how I’m going to act not taking it, or if I’m going to have any side effects.”

Without hesitation, you offered, “Do you want to stay with me while you… withdraw?”

It seemed as if your proposition physically pained him, his body wincing as he suddenly started backing out, “No, I mean—you’ve got Taeyong, and I—”

You held up a finger to cut him off, picking your phone up off the table. Scrolling through your contacts, you clicked on the desired one, listening to the brief ringing.

“Hey!” Johnny’s bright voice came through your speakers. “How’re you feeling, Little Lady Onmyoji?”

“I’m good, thanks, Johnny. Are you busy right now?”

“I’m at the café, but Renjun can close up for me. Why, what’s up? What do you need?”

Maintaining eye contact with Jeno, you replied to Johnny, “Can you go to my apartment and get Taeyong and have him stay at your place?”

“For how long?”

“I’m not sure yet. And don’t worry about locking up after him, I’ll be home soon.”

“Yeah, sure, I can do that, the more the merrier. Uh, can I ask what’s going on?”

With a tense, short sigh, you answered bluntly, “No, you can’t.”

Your friend took a moment before answering, “Alright, I understand. Let me know if you need anything else, little lady. If not me, then one of the other guys: Jeno, or Sicheng, or even your friend Jaemin. You’ve got a support system around you.”

His words pressed on your chest, but it wasn’t as strong as the tugging at your heartstrings done by the boy in the front of you.

“I will, thanks. Tell Taeyong he can have my box of Goldfish as my apology.”

“Yeah, I got him.”

“Thank you, Johnny.”

“You’re welcome, little lady.”

And with that, you hung up, delicately setting your phone back down.

“Do you want to stay with me while you withdraw?”

Jeno nodded.

* * *

The first stop after the restaurant was Jeno’s apartment, and Jaemin was thankfully not home. Explaining why you were watching Jeno while he packed several days’ worth of clothes and then you two leaving together would’ve been… actually rather easy to explain (i.e., lie about), but you’d rather not have your mutual best friend think that the two of you were fucking. Again.

Jeno grabbed an old receipt lying on the coffee table and flipped it over, “I’m gonna leave Jaemin a note. ‘Going on a little vacation, be back in a few days. Jeno.’”

“Is that it?” You questioned, standing by the front door as he took a visual once-over of his apartment.

“Yeah, I think so.”

At your own apartment, you were satisfied to see no trace of Taeyong in any of his forms. The very first thing you did was head right for your kitchen sink and dump out the vial of sleeping draught. Rinsing it out with soap and water, you set the small vial down on a paper towel to dry, noticing your pantry door open and Goldfish missing.

You then turned to Jeno, “Is it okay if I call and ask Jungwoo a few questions about the sleeping draught?”

“Like what?” He asked warily.

“I’ll keep it vague, just to gather some information about what to expect.”

“Does he even have a phone?”

“No, but he’s at Johnny’s place. I’ll call Johnny and have him give the phone to Jungwoo.”

“I feel bad about doing all this to Johnny.”

“Me too,” you admitted. “We’ll send him a fruit basket after this or something.”

You at least were able to make Jeno half-heartedly chuckle, “Okay, yeah, call Jungwoo.”

Johnny was quick to pick up again this time, and you could hear quite a bit of ruckus in the background, “Hey, little lady? Everything okay?”

Jeno held up his bag and mouthed ‘bathroom?’ at you, and you pointed to the correct door, watching until the door was closed behind him to answer your friend on the phone, “Yeah, Johnny, everything’s fine. Can—”

“Is that Y/N?” A voice yelled out from the background, and you heard the sounds of the phone being ripped out of Johnny’s hand.

“Y/N!” The voice barked out, and you recognized it as Renjun. “Why the fuck did you give us Taeyong? We have a two-bedroom loft with barely enough room for a TV and couch, and already had the instrument brothers living here! Why the fuck do we have to house your cat boy too?”

You winced, knowing that you deserved the criticism, “I’m sorry, Renjun. I can’t really explain right now but… thank you.”

Renjun huffed on the other side, but seemed a bit calmer as he spat out, “So why’d you call? Giving us foxface now too?”

“Ah, no. Is Jungwoo there? I have a couple questions for him.”

“Yeah, flute dude’s here. Hold on.”

You heard Renjun call out Jungwoo’s name, then the sounds of you being traded between hands again.

“Hello?” Jungwoo’s melodic voice came through the speakers, and you hoped the technology wasn’t going to faze him too much.

“Hey, Jungwoo. It’s Y/N.”

“It is good to hear from you, Lady Onmyoji,” he returned your kind greetings. “Are you well?”

“Dandy,” you answered flatly. “Can you go somewhere alone? I want to speak to you about something… private.”

“Ah, yes. I will go downstairs to the café.”

“Thanks.”

You paused, listening as the background noise faded away and the sounds of Jungwoo’s footsteps down the stairs started then stopped.

“I am in Johnny’s office,” he informed you, and you breathed out a heavy sigh.

“Thank you.”

“So what do you wish to discuss with me that the others cannot be privy to?”

You tried to keep your tone light, “I just have a few questions about the apothecary stuff you do.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’ve… heard stuff about being able to make you know, _potions_ , that put people to sleep and such.”

“Yes, I am familiar with such things.”

“If someone were to take just enough to make them sleepy, and take it for… years, but then stopped taking it, what would happen to them?”

He paused, as if debating whether or not to address that he knew exactly who and what you were talking about. But instead, he continued on with treating this as a hypothetical, “Their body would take some time adjusting back into its normal Circadian Rhythm, going through bouts of sleep that are nearly impossible to wake from, to long periods of being almost manically awake and alert.”

“And how long would it be until their Circadian Rhythm returned to normal?”

“I would estimate between four and seven days.”

You hoped it was closer to four.

“Okay, well thank you for indulging my inquiries, Jungwoo,” you kept up your air of casualness.

“And,” he added. “I would recommend for anybody who is taking care of them during this time to stay by their side, be patient, and make sure not to neglect themselves in the process of helping a friend.”

His words hit you exactly how you were sure he was hoping, and you nodded despite him not being able to see you, “Yes. Thank you, Jungwoo.”

“Of course. Any more questions?”

“If this person were to go back to their apothecary in the future, asking for more, would the apothecary give it to them?”

“No, I do not believe the apothecary would supply them with anymore.”

“Alright, that’s it. That was all that was on my noggin.”

“Very well. Have a good night, Lady Onmyoji.”

“You too, Jungwoo.”

You hung up first, and gently set your phone down. Time to make up your couch for your guest, make sure he had something other than your throw pillows to sleep with. You got actual pillows and blankets out from your closet, carrying them to the couch. After making up a nice little bed that you were proud of, you looked around for Jeno, and then realized how long it had been since he went into your bathroom. You couldn’t hear the shower running, there was no reason for him to be in there for so long.

“Jeno?” You called out to him, gently rapping your knuckles on the door. “Jeno, is everything okay in there? I just got off the phone with Jungwoo, I’ll tell you what he said when you come out.”

No response.

“Jeno?” You said his name one more time, panic rising in your voice, “If you don’t answer me, I’m going to come in.”

Trying the door handle, it was locked. Getting up on your tiptoes, you felt around blindly on top of the doorframe. When your fingers connected with something, you grabbed it and brought it back down. The spare key.

“One last time, I’m going to unlock it!”

Nothing.

You stuck the thin metal piece in the center of the handle and jiggled it around until you heard and felt the click of it unlocking. Swinging the door open, you felt your heart leap to your throat. Jeno was passed out on your bathroom floor, and you rushed to kneel beside him. Two fingers pressed against his jugular, you could thankfully feel a pulse.

Great, the first bout of intense sleep was upon you.

He appeared to have been able to change into comfy pajamas before falling asleep. With a big exhale, you took his cap and glasses off before you hooked your arms under his underarms and prepared yourself to drag him. At the very least, he couldn’t sleep in your bathroom. The couch was your ultimate goal, but your living room floor was good enough as well, in the case where you physically could not move him anymore.

After great physical exertion—you expected Jeno to be heavy, he was rather built, but not _that_ heavy—you had gotten him on the ground right next to the couch. Okay, one half at a time. You heaved his top half onto the couch first, then oh-so-gracefully his bottom half. He wasn’t in the most comfortable position, with his arm tucked awkwardly underneath him and his face smushed against the back of the couch, so you rearranged his limbs until he seemed pretty comfy. The last step then was for you to bring the blanket up over him, and tuck him in.

Satisfied with your work, you went to your own bedroom and retrieved a pillow and blanket for yourself. If you couldn’t use your couch to binge movies on, you were going to make a comfy enough nest for yourself on the ground to binge movies on. Settled on your floor between your couch and coffee table, you grabbed your remote from the table.

Despite Jungwoo saying it’d be nearly impossible to wake Jeno while he was sleeping, and he hadn’t woken up during the entire time of you dragging him across your apartment and manhandling him, you still kept the volume down on your TV.

* * *

You woke with a distinct crick in your neck. Sitting up with squinted eyes, you absentmindedly rolled your neck in an attempt to rid yourself of the sharp pain. You were still on the floor between your couch and coffee table, blankets messily strewn about. The couch beside you was empty, and you craned your neck around looking for your Tengu guest.

He was in your kitchen, back to you as he made something at your stove. Grabbing your phone from the coffee table, you saw that it was just before ten, and you had a few notifications.

“You didn’t have to sleep in front of the couch, Y/N,” Jeno’s voice came from behind you, and you shuffled around to look at him properly.

He seemed perfectly wide awake, glasses back on and two plates of pancakes in his hands, which he moved to set on the table. As he sat in one corner of the couch, you heaved yourself up onto it as well, bringing your own plate closer to you.

“That wasn’t my intention,” you said with a yawn. “I fell asleep watching TV.”

“Got it.”

You took a bite of your pancake, “Are you trying to tell me to get something other than pancake mix for breakfast?”

“You don’t even have _eggs_ ,” he pointed out incredulously.

“I’ve been meaning to go grocery shopping for the past couple days,” you mumbled.

“Let’s do that today, then.”

You shook your head, “No. You remember what happened last night?”

“Not really…”

“You suddenly passed out. Jungwoo said you’ll be fluctuating between being super energetic and alert to practically in a coma for the next four to seven days. We can’t really have you falling into a coma in the middle of the grocery store.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The two of you were quiet as you ate. You were still waking up, and watched Jeno for signs of him becoming super energetic. He finished his three pancakes in less then two minutes, and practically ran to take care of his plate in the sink then almost dropped it in his haste of drying it.

Your eyes caught on your phone screen lighting up. Jeno watched you curiously as you checked the text.

“It’s just Jaemin, asking if I want to get lunch after my class today,” you paraphrased it aloud. “I’ll let him know I can’t.”

“You’ve got class?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going.”

“You shouldn’t miss class because of me.”

“Jeno, I’m not leaving you alone.”

“Y/N…”

And so that’s how you ended up in the very back of your Chemistry lecture hall, a hoodie wearing Jeno on one side and kid who was definitely stoned out of his mind and not absorbing any of the information on your other side. You eagerly sat forward in your seat, copying down the notes on the PowerPoint and additional information your professor gave verbally.

Jeno’s leg bouncing beside yours was distracting, and you slapped a hand down on his knee to try to get him to stop.

“Sorry,” he whispered, shifting his bouncing to his other leg instead.

Just a few moments later, and he was drumming a beat into the desk. You once again slapped a hand over the offending body parts, and he sheepishly retracted them with an apology.

“Y/N.”

“What?”

“I’m bored.”

“Play a game on your phone.”

“I beat them all.”

“Go run a lap around campus. Or twenty.”

“Really?” He shot up out of his seat, disturbing the students in the row in front of you.

After giving the two of you dirty looks, the students turned back around. Cheeks burning, you grabbed his forearm and pulled him back down into his seat, “ _Sit_. It has been less than ten minutes.”

You pulled your phone out, opening up your own games folder, “Here’s like five more games for you to beat. Download more for all I care, just _shut up_.”

Despite making rather frequent sound effects for whatever game he was playing at the time, Jeno didn’t really bother you for the rest of the class. Breathing a sigh of relief as your professor dismissed class for the day, you turned back to your friend.

“Here,” he mumbled, handing your phone back to you. He took a long blink, and you swore under your breath. He was falling back asleep.

Leaping out of your seat, you jerked on his arm to encourage him to stand up, “Come on Jeno! Don’t fall asleep now! Nice comfy couch waiting for you at the apartment!”

“Y/N…” He whined out your name, dragging his feet, “’m tired.”

“I know,” you pulled him through campus by his hand. “But you can’t sleep here.”

“I can’t… stop it.”

“You’ve gotta try, Jeno.”

He let out a loud yawn, and you could practically feel your time running out. Looping his arm around your shoulders, Jeno half-stumbled of his own volition and was half-dragged by you through the subway station. Finally, you’d boarded a somewhat empty car and dropped yourself and Jeno down onto the seats.

Jeno wasted no time in arranging himself to lay on his side, sleep quickly overtaking him. You managed to wrangle your bookbag off your back and set it down next to your feet. With no hesitation, you coaxed his head into your lap, relief flooding your system. He could take a nap here; you could ride around for a bit while he slept. You’d seen weirder on the subway than that.

“Y/N,” he mumbled, despite you having thought he was already out.

“Yes?”

“Thank you,” he whispered before finally closing his eyes and relaxing. Your hand fell to gently take his glasses off and brush some of his hair off his forehead.

“You’re welcome, Jeno,” you murmured to yourself, fondly watching the sleeping Tengu in your lap.

The subway car bumped and swayed every so often, his body jostling along with it, but he never stirred. You took a deep breath to ground yourself. You weren’t sure why then, but in that moment, you’d decided: you would do anything to protect him. Anything.

* * *

That weekend, you never left your apartment. Jeno’s bouts of wakefulness and sleep were unpredictable, and you _really_ didn’t want to spend another four hours aimlessly riding around on the subway. After officially running out of food, because you couldn’t even risk grocery shopping, instead ordering takeout for the two of you. Even showering was risky, but thankfully he had yet to pass out in the shower or during any other unfortunate situation.

Sunday night, you habitually checked your student email, and let out a loud groan of relief.

“What?” Jeno questioned from where he was doing sit-ups on your floor. You’d found that giving him exercise routines to do during his times of extreme wakefulness and energy helped him be a little less chaotic.

“My Chem professor cancelled class for tomorrow. That means that I just have to get any important information from Jaehyun for my 8 AM.”

He seemed about ready to argue you skipping class for him, but presumably remembered the last time he’d joined you at class and instead shut his mouth.

“I’ll text him right now,” you mused aloud. “Actually, I’ll call him, he’s one of those kinds of people.”

The line rang a few times, then was picked up, “Hey, Y/N.”

“Hey, Jaehyun,” you greeted your friend brightly.

“Are you… at the gym?”

He was most likely referencing the grunting sounds Jeno was making as he now performed burpees in your living room.

“Not quite. I’ve got a friend over and he’s exercising.” Good one, now it _definitely_ doesn’t sound like you’re in the middle of a booty call. Because normal people go to their friends’ apartments to exercise. Clearing your throat, you quickly changed the topic, “Uh, anyway, I won’t be in class tomorrow, could you please send me notes or assignments?”

“Sure. But, why won’t you be there?”

“I’ve got this volunteering thing I’m doing,” you tried your best fib, watching Jeno switch to push-ups this time.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll let you know what you miss.”

“Thanks, Jae, you’re the best— _Jeno_!” You screeched his name out as he suddenly jumped on the couch you were sitting on.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jaehyun said with some amusement and some disgust in his tone. “You and Jeno have fun with your _‘volunteering.’_ ”

And he hung up.

You wrinkled your nose, cheeks flushing at the heavy stress he put on his last words. He definitely did not believe you were going to be volunteering tomorrow morning. But that was fine, as long as he got you the notes.

Shoving the hyperactive Jeno—who was jumping on your couch like a five-year-old—off, you flopped down with an arm over your eyes and dramatically announced, “Jaemin’s now not the only one who thinks we’re fucking.”

“I don’t even know Jaehyun,” Jeno shrugged, sliding across the tile in his socks into your kitchen to grab himself a glass of water. He seemed to be coming down from his energized state.

You figured that you had about thirty to forty-five minutes of normal Jeno before he crashed again. Before, it would be an immediate switch, but gradually the time between the highs and lows had extended, and you could sense them starting to balance out a bit more.

“He knows me, he knows Jaemin, and he knows Yuta,” you retorted, flicking on your TV.

As soon as the kitsune’s name was out of your mouth, you realized your mistake. Jeno put the glass down a bit too harshly on your counter, and you sucked in a sharp breath. Neither of you had brought Yuta up since your dinner a few nights ago when you had quite literally made Jeno cry with a single sentence.

Biting the inside of your cheek, you hesitantly asked, “Do you think you’ll be able to talk about it with me? Not right now, but… eventually?”

Jeno wiped at the sweat on his face with his shirt, taking his time in answering.

“Yeah, eventually. If you want to hear it.”

“Of course I do. Whenever you’re ready.”

He gave you a strange sort of smile before joining you on the couch, “So what are we watching tonight?”

* * *

Your predictions were right. About thirty minutes later, Jeno started yawning, and you stood up to give him the full couch to sleep on. He grabbed at your hand, and you looked down at him attentively.

“You don’t have to…”

“Yeah, I do,” you chuckled, squeezing his hand as you watched his eyelids flutter.

As you tried to let go of his hand to go take care of the takeout leftovers on your coffee table, he held on tighter.

“Can you… can you sit with me? Until I fall asleep.”

“Of course,” you nodded, sitting on the ground in front of where his head was.

You clasped his hand with both of yours, resting your cheek against your linked hands and offering him a bright smile when his tired eyes focused on you. The smile fell when you saw that they were filled with tears.

“Hey, Jeno…” you cooed his name softly, taking one of your hands back to gently pull his glasses off his face and set them on the table behind you.

“I’m scared,” he whispered, sloppily wiping at his tears with the back of his free hand. “I’ve been taking it—the draught, for so long; I- I forgot who I am without it.”

You nodded, biting your lip to try to keep your own tears under control. The raw emotion and genuine fear you could hear in his wavering voice hit you like a lead train. You couldn’t find any words to console him in that moment, instead squeezing his hand tighter in your grip.

You sat there holding his hand until you were sure he was asleep. Giving his limp hand a final squeeze, you let it go and stood up. Time to take care of the leftovers.

* * *

Monday evening you two finally agreed that Jeno was fully detoxed. Or at least enough that he could go back to his own apartment. As the two of you stood by your front door, Jeno back in regular clothes and with his bag slung over his shoulder, you found yourself reluctant to say goodbye.

“Are you sure you want to walk back by yourself?” You asked, hand hovering over your door handle.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, Y/N,” Jeno reassured you. “Jaemin’s not working tonight, so he’ll probably be in the apartment.”

You knew what he meant. It would look a bit suspicious for the both of you to return to their apartment after Jeno’s ‘vacation.’

“Alright, be safe. Have a good night.”

Jeno suddenly pulling you into a tight hug caught you off-guard, but you wasted no time in hugging him back. “Thank you, Y/N,” he murmured, hugging you just a bit tighter.

“You’re welcome, Jeno,” you replied. “I’m proud of you.”

You held each other for another moment before reluctantly pulling back. Opening the door, you watched with a tight chest as Jeno stepped out into the hallway, “Bye, Y/N.”

“Bye, Jeno.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, and that was the first time you ever saw his smile reach his eyes, them turning into delightful crescents.

“Right, patrol.”

“Patrol,” he confirmed.

“Bye,” you repeated, still dragging out your goodbye.

“See you.”

And with that, he retreated down the hallway and entered the stairwell.

* * *

Taeyong was _not_ happy with you when he came home that night. You couldn’t do much more than apologize for kicking him out and promise enough Goldfish and lollipops to last him a lifetime. As soon as he had walked in, he took a deep sniff and narrowed his eyes into slits, “Tengu.”

You didn’t respond, simply folding the blankets you’d just gotten from the dryer. Your living room had returned to normal, as if you hadn’t just had an Ayakashi detoxing from sleeping draught there for the past five days.

“So how was your stay at Johnny’s?” You questioned him lightly.

“Crowded,” he snorted, flopping himself down onto the couch. “This smells like Tengu too.”

“Yeah, I heard there was five of you there.”

“I got the couch, Jungwoo and Yukhei shared an air mattress Johnny set up in the living room, and the two people who actually lived there got their own beds.”

“Sounds like it wasn’t too bad.”

“I think there was three square feet of open space to walk through in the entire loft,” he stretched out. “Which wasn’t too bad for me, since I could just move around in my cat form. But then I kept getting stepped on. That drum dude is _not_ very aware of his surroundings.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, Yonggie,” you cooed at him, sitting in the free space just opened up by him turning into a cat. He insistently rubbed his head against your arm, and you easily gave in to give him ear rubs.

“You should be,” he grumbled, letting you rub over his face as well.

* * *

Wednesday morning, you sat down in your seat at World Lit with a still-burning face. Jaehyun of course had to give you a hard time about missing class on Monday, and it took physically shoving him into a planter to stop him from revealing to Jaemin that the dude he thought you were fucking was Jeno. Yuta hadn’t been at the quad with you all that morning, and Jaehyun remarked that he was pretty sure your friend was sick, as he hadn’t been there Monday either.

Still glaring at Jaehyun furiously, you brought your notebook out from your backpack.

“So you’re an Onmyoji too,” Mark’s voice was suddenly beside your ear, and you jumped just a bit. “Oh, sorry!”

“Huh?” You feigned confusion at Mark’s statement.

“I’m the only one in the room who’s noticed your uh, new tattoo,” he gestured to your neck, and you slapped a hand over the bond mark.

“Oh. _Oh_ ,” you leaned in closer to him to be able to speak quieter. “You’re an Onmyoji, Mark?”

“Yep,” he turned, letting you see just the head of a lion peeking out from under his collar. That definitely wasn’t there last week. “You just got your powers, right?”

You felt so relieved at being able to talk about this with someone. Sure, almost all your friends were Ayakashi, but none of them were Onmyoji, so they could only relate to you to a certain degree.

“Yeah, about a week ago. I can’t do much. On purpose, at least.”

“Don’t worry about not being able to sense I was Onmyoji too when you came in, since you just got your powers,” he reassured you, bringing a light smile to your face. “Do you want some help? I can like, tutor you or something on the Divine Arts.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“I’d love to! I don’t really have any other Onmyoji friends I can talk about this kind of stuff with.”

“Okay, yeah, thank you!” You agreed brightly, earning a nearly blinding smile from your classmate.

* * *

“Being able to sense other supernatural beings is one of the easiest things to do as an Onmyoji. It’s just something innate.”

You were in Mark’s apartment one afternoon, sitting on his living room floor, face-to-face. This was your first official Divine Arts tutoring session with him, and you were buzzing with nervous excitement. You hung on to every word he said.

“Have you tried at all to use your powers?” He questioned.

“Not after the first night I got them,” you admitted. “I got a little busy.”

“Alright, you should be able to get this in like two seconds, pretty much as soon as you try to focus them in.”

“So what do I do? Close my eyes and breathe?”

“Sure.”

Closing your eyes, you listened to the sound of Mark’s air conditioning as you counted your breaths. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. And then you felt something. Just underneath the foreground of your senses, something new. It wasn’t anything like your other five senses, and you grasped at it for a moment before getting an epiphany.

“Onmyoji! You’re an Onmyoji!”

“Did you know it or feel it?”

“I know it _because_ I feel it,” your eyes flew open as you were absolutely beaming. “Your bond mark was enough physical proof, but I could only _believe_ what you were saying. Now I _know_.”

Mark was grinning back at you, “Good. That’s perfect, Y/N.”

“Thanks,” you grinned, eyes scanning over the apartment momentarily. They caught on something on the coffee table beside the two of you, “What are those?”

Your classmate followed your gaze, and perked up just a bit, handing one to you to inspect. It was a small piece of paper, cut into the rough shape of a person. Red thread was wound around the neck, and you delicately held it between your fingers.

“They’re talismans,” Mark spoke up. “They’ve got a bunch of different uses, but that’s above what you can do right now.”

The sound of his front door unlocking caught your attention. It opened to reveal a man with dark hair and honeyed skin.

“Ayakashi!” You blurted out, the feeling different than Mark’s Onmyoji feelings, and you knew exactly what it was. Your outburst startled the newcomer for a second, and you sheepishly went to apologize, “Oh, sorry, sorry.”

“It’s fine…” he replied, looking between you and Mark with intrigue as he set his bag down on the kitchen table. You took note of the white lab coat folded over his arm; this must be Ten, Mark’s entomologist roommate.

Mark jumped in to introduce the two of you, “Y/N, this is my roommate Ten. Ten, this is Y/N, we have World Lit together.”

“And you’re also both Onmyoji,” Ten retorted, retreating further into the apartment still with his coat. Your eyes caught on a mark on the back of his neck. If you weren’t mistaken, it was also the small head of a lion. So not only was he Mark’s roommate, he was one of his True Ayakashi.

He disappeared into what you assumed to be his bedroom, and Mark turned back to you, “Good job, Y/N!”

“So he is an Ayakashi,” you were happy for the confirmation. Even if you _knew_ it deep inside, it was still nice to be externally validated.

“Yes. Anything you can think of that you’d like to learn?”

“I have a couple ideas, actually.”

“Shoot.”

Thinking back to when Jungwoo had left the shrine with you to join your patrols, you remembered the note he had sent his brother, “Magical flying notes. Those are something Onmyoji can do, right?”

He nodded, “Yep. And they’re pretty easy too, a nice little thing for a baby Onmyoji like yourself.”

You were tempted to pout at his calling you a baby, but you were much too eager to learn as he stood to grab a piece of paper and pen from within Ten’s bag on the kitchen table. Returning to you, Mark once again sat down, using the coffee table beside the two of you to scribble something onto the paper. You set the talisman back down onto the table as he handed the wrote-on piece of paper over to you.

“There’s incantations to everything, but after some practice you won’t need to even really think it about it, you’ll be able to just do it,” he prefaced, then moved on to the actual content. “The incantation is ‘take flight to’ and then you say whoever you want it to go to. You might want to give it a little flick of your wrist to help it along.”

“Who should I send it to?” You questioned. “You?”

“I’m too close for it to be any sort of challenge for you, try Ten instead. His door’s open, the note should have no trouble finding him.”

Feeling a little antsy about sending a magical note with scribbles on it to Mark’s roommate, you hesitantly enunciated, “Take flight to Ten.”

You flicked your wrist upwards like you remembered seeing Jungwoo doing, and to your surprise, the note lifted into the air. It folded itself into a pretty little origami crane and took off. You watched it elegantly glide through the apartment and into one of the doors.

Just a moment later, Ten came into view, leaning in his doorway with his hand delicately presenting the crane out, “Congrats, baby Onmyoji.”

You couldn’t even be upset at the nickname, absolutely elated with your success. Mark reached out to squeeze your knee, “You did it, Y/N!”

* * *

After sending Ten quite a few more paper cranes, you had mastered sending notes without the incantation. And also got told off by him because he was writing up a report for his research and you were distracting him. You left soon after that, having to swing by your apartment to drop your bookbag off and pickup Taeyong before your patrol tonight.

At the café, you were buzzing with excitement, something your friends—save for Yuta, who hadn’t shown up—took note of.

“You’re awfully excited about something, little lady,” Johnny commented with a raised eyebrow as you bounced on your heels. You hadn’t taken your normal seat at a booth, too happy with yourself to be able to sit still.

“Yeah, I was studying at a friend’s place earlier, and finally grasped this really hard concept!” You fibbed, not wanting to tell them about your Onmyoji tutoring quite yet. “It was a big lightbulb moment for me!”

“What was it, Y/N?” Jeno questioned from the end of the booth closest to you. “Teaching it to someone else helps with understanding and memory retention.”

Shit. You almost wished Jeno was taking a nap now.

“Electron domains and molecular geometry,” you quickly busted out a subject from your Chem class that you’d learned a few weeks ago. “It’s… a lot, we don’t really have time for me to get into all of it.”

“You and I can patrol together and I’ll listen.”

Fuck. Why was sober Jeno so damn nice?

“Speaking of, let’s go over the groups tonight,” Sicheng spoke up, drawing the group’s attention over to him. “Renjun and Taeyong, you guys were supposed to be Y/N’s partners for tonight, but you two can just be together instead. Since Jeno’s with Y/N, I’ll pair Jungwoo with Johnny, leaving me, Yukhei, and… Yuta.”

Yuta hadn’t shown up to a single patrol since the night you got your powers in that parking lot. Sicheng would still make a place for him in the groups, just in case, but he never came. And his absence was noticeable to the whole group, entirely unaddressed by anybody.

Until tonight, as Renjun let out a short and loud sigh, “Alright, anybody know why hasn’t Yuta been around? What the fuck happened that night?”

“Weren’t you there, Renjun?” Taeyong asked. “I thought it was you, foxface, and featherbrain partnered up.”

“Yeah, and it all seemed… fine, until those Wraiths showed up. Yuta and Jeno got caught up in them, so I went to get Y/N, Sicheng, and Jungwoo. Yuta managed to get out, and Y/N had a—I’ve got to say it—rather _stupid_ plan to get Jeno, then Yuta grabbed her. Y/N, what did he say to you? He said something to you, and you looked like your cat got ran over or something.”

“Hey!” Taeyong scowled.

“Not my point, kitty,” Renjun shrugged off the Nekomata’s offense, intense gaze still trained on you. “What did he say to you?”

You were frozen. Sure that you looked like a gaping fish, you couldn’t think of what to say. You knew that you couldn’t say the truth; you couldn’t do that to Jeno, especially when you didn’t even know what Yuta had really meant. Jeno hadn’t told you the full story yet, there was no point dragging the others into what you really hoped was a serious misunderstanding.

“Just that he thought… he thought my plan was dumb, that I would get hurt,” you rushed to answer, coming up with your best lie on the spot. “He didn’t want me to do it. That’s it. You know he thinks of me like a little sister, he was just being protective, that’s all.”

“Then you socked your protective older brother figure in the jaw.”

You hated this conversation.

Before you could open your mouth and say anything else defensive, Jeno stood up for you, snapping at the Satori, “Stop interrogating her, Renjun. It’s not her fault Yuta’s throwing a hissy fit.”

“I wouldn’t blame him for throwing a hissy fit after getting punched.”

“Yeah, because you’ve thrown a hissy fit over a lot less.”

“Stop it,” Sicheng cut in coolly, but the fire burning in his blue eyes as they snapped between the two Ayakashi was anything but. Not wanting a repeat of the last time Renjun and Jeno had a spat, you held your breath anxiously.

Jeno nodded, turning his attention away from Renjun and over to the Mizuchi dragon, “When are we leaving on patrol?”

“Right after I send everyone their routes,” he informed you all, bringing his phone out. “Stay vigilant and stay safe, all.”

Everybody stood up and took off from the café with their respective partners. You started down the streets with Jeno, observing him with interest.

“What?” He questioned, an eyebrow raised as he looked over at you.

“Nothing, you’re just… different now,” you shrugged. “You know, without the draught.”

“Good different or bad different?”

“Good.”

He smiled, a sight that squeezed your chest.

“Thank you for earlier,” you added quietly. “For standing up for me, and then stepping back instead of escalating it.”

“Renjun shouldn’t have been talking to you like that. And it still took Sicheng vaguely threatening us for me to stand down,” he mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Better than the last time.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

He suddenly changed topics, “Are you free after this?”

“I mean, I’ve got a Nekomata to take home. But why? What’s up?”

“I want to talk… about me and Yuta.”

Your eyes widened of their own accord as you immediately went to nod your head, “Yeah, okay. Uh, I can drop Taeyong off at the apartment and then we can go talk about it wherever you want.”

“Thanks,” his face split into a smile, something he’s been doing a lot more recently. You liked seeing his smile, you thought to yourself. It was cute.

“Of course.”

“So, what was that thing you were talking about earlier? Electrons or something?”

“Oh, right.”

And so you gave Lee Jeno a lecture on electron domains and molecular geometry as you two patrolled the streets together. You kept an awareness of supernatural frequencies in the back of your mind as you almost robotically recited your knowledge. It was actually a concept you grasped very well, and you kept an eye on Jeno’s face, watching for any signs of boredom. But much to your surprise, he seemed interested and engaged in what you were saying the whole time.

As per usual, Sicheng made sure your route ended at your apartment, and you found Taeyong already waiting on a bench outside the building.

“Hey, Yong,” you greeted your Nekomata brightly, leading the way into the building.

Taeyong eyed Jeno suspiciously, “Why is he coming with us?”

“Oh, we’re not staying long,” Jeno’s words didn’t do much to reassure the other Ayakashi.

You opened the door up to your floor from the stairwell, “I’m just going to let you in, then I’ve got to head back out.”

“When are you going to get back?” Taeyong asked, watching you unlock the apartment.

Exchanging a glance with Jeno, you tried to answer as nonchalantly as possible, “I’m not sure. As always, there’s wet food in the fridge, dry food in the pantry, and human food in both. I’ll see you later. Bye, Taeyong.”

“Bye…”

You’d barely gone past the threshold of your front door as you spoke to Taeyong, and now you backed up into the hallway where Jeno still was, shutting the door behind you. A click came, letting you know that Taeyong had locked it back up.

“You should really get him his own key,” Jeno said as the two of your started back towards the stairs.

“You’re right,” you nodded, bewildered about how you hadn’t thought of that before. “But that’s something for another time.”

“The place I’m thinking of isn’t too far.”

“Okay.”

As you followed Jeno through the weaving streets, your eyes kept straying to the back of his neck, and your fingertips would absentmindedly reach up towards your own bond mark. There was something about it that made you bubble up with happiness. Sure, it was something you also shared with four other guys, but seeing the lotus blossom on the back of Jeno’s neck and knowing that you had one on your own made your heart feel funny nevertheless.

Curiously, the route he was taking through the city was one that was familiar to you. You kept your suspicions to yourself as you got closer and closer to the familiar spot. Jeno started slowing down as you reached your destination: the park you and Jaemin had first found him in.

You continued following him off the sidewalk, approaching a tall oak in a more secluded area. If your memory served you correctly, it was the very tree Jeno had been sleeping under that day. Jeno’s hands were stuffed in the pockets of his jacket, and you looked at him out of the corner of your eye to see if he would make another move.

He took one more step before beginning to lower himself to the ground, eyes trained on the trunk the whole time. You followed his lead, sitting cross-legged in front of him.

“Yuta was right. Whatever he’s said about me… he’s right,” Jeno began, voice shockingly peaceful.

“He said you killed someone, Jeno.”

He took a long pause and he seemed to be collecting his thoughts and words. You didn’t dare interrupt him, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“When I was little, around five or so, I was outside playing in my yard and saw this little Kitsune pup waddle by, holding hands with a bigger Kitsune, his older brother. The pup let go of his brother’s hand and ran over to me, turning into a little baby fox as he came up to me. He used to do that whenever he got excited… which was most of the time. He couldn’t control his transformations yet. He grabbed one of my toys in his mouth and bounced around, trying to playfight with me. The older Kitsune came over and introduced himself and apologized for his brother, telling me how he was only three—almost four, actually—and wanted to make new friends. Chenle was the pup’s name. My best friend. And Yuta’s… Yuta’s little brother.”

You weren’t sure how long ago this was, but the bittersweet smile flickering across Jeno’s features told you that it didn’t matter, the memories still brought emotions to the surface for him. You had a small smile on your face as you tried to imagine little Jeno with equally little black wings.

“Everybody just called him LeLe, though. And we played together all day, every day. Attached at the hip, according to my mom. And Yuta was always there with LeLe, watching over us: his little brother and his little brother’s best friend. Sometimes… sometimes he would call both of us his little brothers.”

Jeno trailed off again, eyes welling up with tears as he continued looking longingly at the oak tree. You felt tugs at your own heartstrings, sadness overtaking you as well as you listened to his story. Yuta had claimed Jeno as his own family, something you would have never guessed from how they interacted now.

“One day we were playing, and it was just like normal. I was… eleven, and LeLe had just turned ten. I had started developing my powers in the year prior and used them like any normal Tengu kid would. I’d toss LeLe around a bit, knock him over sometimes, blow leaves up in his face. He loved it, he thought I was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. His only powers at that point were his transformations that he couldn’t control. LeLe and Yuta’s family are kind of special kitsunes, they have a power of healing that goes through their lineage. But LeLe hadn’t gotten anything like that yet. So he loved watching me use my powers.”

Hearing about how Yuta’s healing powers weren’t exactly commonplace among kitsune interested you, but you tucked that information away for another time.

“That day I had lifted him just a few inches, like normal. But he asked me to do it more. Lift him higher, throw him a little harder. He was _ten_ now, he told me. Double digits, so he could handle it. I shouldn’t have listened to him, I should’ve told him no, and just done a few inches again. I lifted him higher, a foot, two feet, three, four, ten. He was laughing and giggling so hard. I could feel myself losing control of it… I tried to warn him and put him down. But I didn’t try hard enough, and I dropped him.”

Your throat tightened as you listened on, watching as tears finally fell down Jeno’s cheeks.

“I dropped him, and… and the _crack_ , Y/N. The _crack_ of him… hitting- hitting the ground,” he was choking on his own words now, nearly hyperventilating as sobs wracked through him. “That was all I could hear for months afterwards.”

His hands came up to slap over his ears, as if he was still hearing it now. Reaching forward, you grabbed at his hands, pulling them off his ears. You squeezed them tightly, unable to find the words to comfort him in that moment. Jeno visibly started calming down, taking deep and shaky breaths.

“I ran over to him, to see if he was okay. Yuta had been inside and he came running out. I don’t know how he knew that something had happened. Older brother senses, I guess. I don’t know. But he came running over, and he shoved me off of LeLe. I tried to apologize, tell him what happened. He started yelling at me, screaming about how I’d just killed his little brother. And I did, I did kill his brother.”

“Jeno…” you murmured his name, feeling absolutely powerless as you watched him relive such a scarring event.

“I didn’t even go to his funeral… a murderer shouldn’t go to the funeral of the person he’s killed.”

That was when you fully cut in, firmly telling him, “Jeno, it was an accident, you’re not a killer. You were eleven, it wasn’t your fault. You all were just kids.”

“They planted this oak at the funeral,” he didn’t acknowledge your statement, letting go of one of your hands to hesitantly reach his own out towards the trunk, turning away from you as he did so. He didn’t touch it, as if he was afraid that he might hurt it.

Again, your words failed you. Kneeling behind him, you acted on instinct, covering the back of his hand with yours, and gently pressing his palm to the bark. With his back pressed to your front, and your back to the world, you had him safely tucked between you and the tree. Protected, just like you’d sworn on the subway.

His other hand reached back, finding your own and guiding it around his front. Getting the hint, you gently shook his hand off and once again covered it with your own. Lacing your fingers through his, you looped your arm around his waist, holding him even closer.

Jeno mumbled something again, but you couldn’t make out what he had said.

“What was that?” You murmured, cheek pressed against his hair.

“I took… I started taking the draught several years after it. I found Jungwoo, and had him make it for me because it dulled me. Can’t hurt anybody if you’re asleep all the time, you know.”

Now you knew why he was so scared to come off of it. Judging by the growth of the oak tree, the funeral had been decades ago, meaning that Jeno had been taking the draught for nearly as long. Not only had most of his life been while he was taking it, but he took it to make sure he wasn’t dangerous to anybody else.

“You’re not going to hurt anybody off it either, Jeno,” you reassured him, tightening your hold over his waist just a little more.

* * *

You weren’t sure of how long you’d stayed like that, but you ignored the wailing of your legs, neck, and back, willing to stay in that position as long as Jeno needed you to be. The incessant buzzing of Jeno’s phone finally disturbed the two of you. Separating back into your previous cross-legged positions, you watched Jeno check his phone.

“It’s Jaemin,” he told you, seeming reluctant about answering the text.

“What’d he say?”

“Asking if I fell asleep in some random place again… if I don’t respond to him in ten minutes he’s going to come get me… oh, great, he turned my Snap Map back on for me too.”

You snickered, that sounded about right for your friend, “Then respond to him.”

“Yep, yeah, let me do that.”

“If he checks… that means he can see that we’re out here together.”

“Yeah, he can.”

“You don’t mind?”

“No,” he affirmed, looking to you. “Do you?”

“No,” you answered firmly. “I don’t mind.”

Jeno quickly texted Jaemin back, then tucked his phone away again. He looked up into the branches of the tree, where the moonlight was just peeking through. He seemed lost in thought again, and you gently prodded him.

“Jeno?”

His focus snapped back to you, “Oh, I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

“You and Jaemin.”

“And what about me and Jaemin?”

“That day in the park… you two saved my life.”

You shook your head insistently, refusing to take credit for that, “Jaemin’s the one who went up to you. I was trying to stop him.”

But it seemed like Jeno wasn’t going to let you off so easy, “Jaemin saved my life that day, but you’re the one who helped me really live.”

“No, Jeno, _you_ did that,” you pushed back. “ _You_ asked me for help, and I know that took a lot to do.”

“It was both of us.”

“Both of us,” you compromised, earning one of Jeno’s eyes smiles that were becoming heartachingly familiar to you.

* * *

You were having tea with Jungwoo, a tradition he had wanted to continue in his new circumstances. Cushions from Johnny’s couch had been repurposed for you two to sit on, and a box from a toaster oven with a blue sheet draped over it was serving as your table. Despite Johnny and Renjun having an entire café downstairs, Jungwoo insisted on recreating your tea parties from the shrine. You didn’t mind, the light nostalgia warming you up nicely with the tea.

The others were out and about, Johnny and Renjun downstairs running the café, and Yukhei had some personal errands to do around the city. You set your cup down, still thinking about what you had been thinking of for the past few weeks. Lee Jeno.

“Would you like to share what is on your mind with me, Lady Onmyoji?” Jungwoo asked, head tilted curiously.

“The sleeping draught you were making for Jeno…” you dropped all pretenses from the last time you’d discussed it with him. “Why did you give it to him in the first place, Jungwoo?”

Jungwoo set his own cup down, a pensive look darkening his face as he did so, “I realized that there was nothing I could do for my friend in that moment. I was afraid that if I did not give him the sleeping draught and made sure it was safe for him, he would receive it from a source who did not care about his wellbeing. I am still not sure if it was the right decision. But I have done it, and I cannot undo it. Please let him know that I am sorry for not helping him in some other way.”

Unsure of why he had requested that you get his message to Jeno, you agreed nevertheless, “I will. You did what you thought was best, Jungwoo.”

“Ah, yes. I believe there is a saying: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Your phone buzzed in that moment, and you glanced at it to see that Jeno was calling you, “Speak of the Tengu and he shall appear.”

Accepting the call, you greeted him brightly, “Hey, Jeno!”

“Hey, Y/N,” he returned your light tone.

“So what’s up?”

“You remember your friend that almost hit me with a car, Mark?”

“Yeah, of course. Why? He almost run you over again?” You teased, picking up your tea again.

“I— _fuck!”_ Jeno suddenly cried out, and it was then that you noticed his heavy breathing, and you turned serious.

“Jeno? Jeno, what’s happening?”

“Where are you?”

“The loft above the café, I’m having tea with Jungwoo. Jeno, what’s going on?”

“Who else is there?”

“Uh, Renjun and Johnny, and some patrons.”

“Wraith patrons?”

You had sensed the presence of Wraiths in the café a little while ago, and disregarded it like usual, “Yes, why?”

Jeno swore under his breath, “Don’t go downstairs, don’t move. I’m on my way.”

And he hung up.


	3. [three]

You could feel it, feel the negative energy filling the streets outside the café. It didn’t sound like anything was wrong downstairs, but you couldn’t know for sure. Standing up, you crossed to the window and peered out of it. There were people milling around outside the café. But you knew they weren’t typical people. Some were Wraiths in their own human forms, and others, humans that were possessed by Wraiths.

If it came down to it, you could banish some of the Wraiths. On the nights you weren’t on patrol with the ‘Ayakashi Avengers,’ you would go out with Mark, finding Wraiths causing trouble and practice your incantation to banish them. You were getting better and better at it, but you weren’t sure if you could handle this many at once.

“What did Jeno say again, Lady Onmyoji?” Jungwoo asked, not seeming too terribly nervous.

“Not to go downstairs, and that he was on his way,” you told the Tsukumo-gami. “But I have a bad feeling about this… I would call the others but the Wraiths are blocking my signal, and the landline is in Johnny’s office downstairs.”

“Perhaps we could call Johnny or Renjun up here and request they make contact with the others.”

“Good idea,” you agreed, creeping over to the stairs.

The feeling of the Wraiths grew stronger as you hesitantly called out, “Johnny? Renjun?”

No response.

Tiptoeing down a couple stairs, you tried to peer out to where the café part was. You couldn’t see much. The staircase was in the back, right behind the purple curtain separating the dining area from the back. If you were quick enough, you could probably slip into Johnny’s office yourself.

Before you could try, the curtain was opened, and Renjun entered the hallway. He regarded you with a raised eyebrow, clearly confused by the manner with which you were darting your eyes around.

“Uh, hello?”

You beckoned Renjun closer, asking him quietly, “Can you go into Johnny’s office and call Sicheng? Jeno just called me and—”

A tinkle of a bell came from the front, signaling a someone had entered or exited the restaurant.

“Hold on, I think those Wraiths just dine-and-dashed,” the Satori bitterly said, walking back out to the front.

Renjun’s voice floated back to you as he greeted somebody, “Hello, welcome to Lenticular Café. Just two today?”

The voice that responded was curiously familiar to you, “Three, we’re going to have someone joining us very soon.”

Mark.

His presence in a café shouldn’t have registered as strange in your mind but remembering that Jeno had brought him up earlier made you at the least confused and suspicious.

“Actually,” he said frankly, voice curling through the air. “I think she’s already here.”

Of course he could sense that you were here, as easy as you could sense him. Your anxiety was growing by the second, and you held your breath as you could hear the footsteps of the two men cross the café.

Jungwoo suddenly gripped your arm, hold light but firm, “Onmyoji…”

“Yeah, I know,” you whispered in agreement.

“No, that is not how Onmyoji are supposed to feel, that is not what your energy is like, Lady Onmyoji.”

The sensation of the Wraiths was building in your mind, almost masking over the other sensation. Ayakashi, one other than the three who you knew to be there; and if you had to bet money, you would say that the other newcomer was Ten.

“What are you talking about?” Renjun snorted out.

“Lady Onmyoji, we should return upstairs where Jeno requested you remain,” Jungwoo murmured, trying to tug you back up by your arm.

Jeno still wasn’t here, and you hoped he wasn’t delayed by whatever had made him cry out over the phone earlier. You were frozen to the spot, still eavesdropping.

“Oh hey little lady,” Johnny was suddenly at your side in the hallway, apron tied around his waist as he focused a bright smile on you, voice much too loud for your somewhat covert eavesdropping. “You spying on Renjun or something?”

Renjun’s voice barked out, “Hey! You can’t go back there!”

“Everyone has such cute nicknames for you, baby Onmyoji,” Ten had pulled back the purple curtain, eyes trailing over you and your two friends. “Lady Onmyoji, little lady… I wonder what pet name the Tengu has for you.”

Renjun pushed his way into the hallway as well, between you and Ten, “Go back out and wait for your damn food.”

Jeno. Why had he brought up Jeno?

“Hey, Y/N!” Mark popped into the hallway beside Ten, but this time his bright smile didn’t bring one to your own lips.

“You know this dude, Y/N?” Renjun turned to look at you. “Maybe you can get him and his friend to sit where they’re supposed to.”

“Renjun,” Johnny said the boy’s name lowly, in warning.

You hadn’t told any of your friends about your Onmyoji tutoring sessions with Mark, wanting to wait until you had something to show for it. You wanted to be able to show them that you could actually be useful now. But it was starting to feel like maybe you should have told them about him.

“Sorry if this all seems kind of ominous, Ten’s dramatic sometimes,” Mark giggled, doing very little to lighten the mood. His cheeks were a bit pink, bashfulness now in his actions, “I really do want to have lunch with you. Chat for a bit, you know.”

“About what?”

“This and that.”

Still clinging to the hope that this was some big kind of misunderstanding, you nodded. Your friends gave you worried looks, but none protested you following Mark and Ten back out to the restaurant part. Mark and Ten sat on one side of the booth and you sat on the other, folding your hands in your lap and offering them an anxious half-smile.

Renjun took your drink orders, watching the other Onmyoji and Ayakashi with narrowed eyes as he did so. The curtain between the front and back stayed open, and you knew Jungwoo was waiting in the hallway despite Johnny having to go back into the kitchen to make your food.

“Have you started the essay for Lit?” Mark asked, taking a sip of the iced coffee Renjun had just set down in front of him.

“Uh, I’ve done some preliminary research,” you replied, fingertip trailing up the side of your already sweating glass. You’d just gotten a water.

“More than I’ve done.”

Your eyes were trained on the world outside the windows of the café. Jeno still wasn’t here.

“The Wraiths are awful restless today, huh?” Your classmate remarked, seeming to notice where your gaze was locked.

“Yeah, they are.”

“Have you been practicing the Divine Arts I’ve taught you?”

You looked down at your lap in shame, knowing that you had lied to your friends about it, “Yeah, I’ve been practicing.”

Your friends had all been listening, and you couldn’t bring yourself to see their reactions.

The food for the table came out soon, but you found that you had no appetite. Mark was still making small talk with you, with Ten giving his own input every so often.

“The Domeki not make you something you like, baby Onmyoji?” Ten questioned you, gesturing to your uneaten food.

“No, Johnny’s food is always good,” you mumbled, hand resting on your phone on the table, waiting for any kind of sign from Jeno. The Wraiths would be blocking your signal anyway, but you held out a little bit of hope. “I’m just not very hungry today.”

“Your check,” Renjun was beside the table, dropping the receipt on the tabletop.

“Eager to get rid of us?” Ten retorted.

“Can’t wait.”

When you looked at Renjun, his face was turning pink with anger, one eye that signature bright jade.

“There’s one more thing I want to talk about with Y/N,” Mark objected quietly. “And I actually wanted to ask about dessert.”

“No dessert,” came a voice from behind you, and you turned to see Johnny leaning in the threshold of the hallway. “And whatever you’re talking to the little lady about, you can tell us as well.”

“I’m getting goosebumps from this teamwork happening here,” Ten smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Mark sat forward, linking and unlinking his hands almost nervously, “I need your help with something, Y/N.”

“With what?” You questioned curiously.

His eyes flicked over the other three Ayakashi backing you up.

“Like Johnny said. You tell me, you tell them,” you confirmed, feeling a lot better with some of your friends there.

“The Wraiths in this city are under my control.”

You stiffened, remembering what Jungwoo first said would come of the Onmyoji controlling the Wraiths. And it was Mark. Of course it was Mark, you were so stupid. Him conveniently showing up when you and Jeno were attacked by those Wraiths in the alleyway, so eagerly offering you help with your Divine Arts. How many other Onmyoji did you honestly think were in this city, and it was providence that you were classmates with one? You should’ve seen it earlier, and you should have told your friends. Or at least Jeno.

“Why, Mark?”

“I’ve known you’re an Onmyoji since high school, Y/N. I used the Wraiths to keep an eye on you, see how your powers were coming along.”

“Why?”

“There’s something I need to do, but it requires the power of an Onmyoji at their most powerful: with their five Ayakashi. Ten’s great, but he’s my only true Ayakashi. You’ve gotten all five of your true Ayakashi and then some.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly playing Ayakashi catch-em-all,” you scoffed, in utter disbelief. Mark had been the one sending the Wraiths after your friends. And as you continued thinking of all the destruction that had been wrought, you felt your blood start to boil just under your skin.

“They’re naturally drawn to powerful Onmyoji, like you.”

“So I’ve heard,” you said through gritted teeth, getting really tired of Mark’s innocent façade. “What do you want with me?”

“Out with it, Mark!” Ten snapped, as impatient with him as you were. “Or I’m gonna say it.”

“I intend to utilize your power to complete a ritual which will bring my father back.”

“And burn her body up in process!” Johnny shot back with scathing heat, already making his way toward you as Renjun stepped between you and Mark. A hand grabbed your upper arm and pulled you from the booth.

Looking down at it, you knew it was Johnny’s, covered in exquisite tattoos. Jungwoo had come forward as well, wooden flute in his delicate grasp.

A shout from outside caught your attention, and you were stunned to see the Wraiths had coalesced into their true forms, pounding down against something. It was Sicheng, protected by a bubble of water from the fire extinguisher now shooting water up into the sky. He fumbled at the door handle, and you knew what Mark was about to do.

“No!” You yelled out, dispelling Mark’s paper talisman headed for the door as soon as it was out of his grasp.

Sicheng was able to enter then, deep blue eyes finding you quickly. He kept a swirling circle of water suspended above his palm, his breathing heavy as he surveyed the scene in front of him. He was already in his battle form, with patches of iridescent blue scales were all along his arms and cheek. It must have taken a great deal out of him to make it through the Wraiths.

You had to focus on banishing these Wraiths. Whenever Jeno got here—and you were trusting with all your heart that he was on his way like he said and not lying in a heap somewhere—you wanted him to be able to get through with as little struggle as possible.

Staying behind Johnny, you started mumbling the incantation under your breath, trying not to draw attention to yourself.

“The mutt showed up,” Ten growled, eyes narrowing at Sicheng.

Glowing purple webs appeared between his hands, the strings suspended from each of his fingers as he set his sights on the Mizuchi dragon. His previous casual clothes had disappeared, transformed into a pitch-black ensemble, silken shirt glittering in an almost menacing way as it reflected back the purple light of his webs.

Sicheng nimbly rolled out of the way of Ten’s silky net that had been launched at him. You desperately murmured the words even faster, keeping a watchful eye on your friends inside and the Wraiths being gradually banished outside. You had to get rid of as many as you could before—

“Y/N!” Mark called out your name, and the next thing you knew, you felt a sharp slice across your cheek.

“Fuck!” You hissed, knowing exactly what it was.

But you couldn’t get distracted. You continued with your incantation, ducking behind a booth as Mark sent another talisman at you. Thankfully your friends caught on to what you were doing, battle forms emerging as Renjun whipped his pistol out, and Jungwoo raised his flute to his lips menacingly.

“You wouldn’t use your death song with one of your friends unable to cover his ears,” Mark sneered at Jungwoo, gesturing to where Sicheng and Ten were still duking it out.

“Fortunately my gun will work just fine whether his ears are covered or not,” Renjun cocked the hammer back.

The words couldn’t seem to pour from your lips fast enough, and you kept yourself hidden behind your friends, peeking out to watch the Wraiths disappear. You could almost make out some of the street outside. There were gunshots, and you kept your focus on the incantation. You hadn’t ever banished this many Wraiths in a row before, the most Mark ever had you try was three, but by now you’ve lost count, somewhere in the double digits.

Another sharp slice came, this time at your arm. The sting didn’t bother you as you looked back to the scene in front of you, still whispering the incantation under your breath. Johnny was the only one left in front of you, Renjun writhing on the ground in pain and Jungwoo motionless on the floor.

“Run!” Johnny shouted to you fervently.

And you did. You darted upstairs, recitation continuing. Behind you, you put up a protective shield at the base of the stairs. But you couldn’t keep this up for much longer. You could feel your power draining, especially now that it was being divided between your two tasks.

The Wraiths were still disappearing from the street below as you looked on from the window. Your eyes were fluttering shut now, and you desperately fought to keep them open, the sweet bliss of unconsciousness enticing your body.

A dark form suddenly shot up in front of the window you were at, and you now shouted the incantation at it, at the Wraith breaking through the window and reaching out for you. You yelled the incantation as you continued stumbling back away from it.

“Y/N!” It said your name, terrifying tendrils nearing your face.

Why wasn’t your incantation working?

Right as it touched your face, you knew. That wasn’t a Wraith.

“Jeno…” you breathed out, sanity returning as your eyes finally focused on him.

His wings were drawn out behind him, no longer black but a deep blue when the light caught on them; large and imposing, but his hold on your face was soft. He was in his battle form as well, his glasses and baseball cap nowhere to be seen as a single streak of blue shone in his hair and his clothes now resembled a kimono with the sleeves chopped off, a motif of golden feathers threaded along the navy blue material.

“Y/N,” he repeated your name, pulling you into a tight embrace, wings enclosing around you.

“The Wraiths, I need to banish them,” you shook your head, mind still on your suffering friends downstairs. You’d just started the incantation back up when Jeno said your name again.

“Y/N, the Wraiths are gone. Mark, the Jorogumo, the Wraiths, they’re all gone.”

“They are?” You asked hesitantly, not wanting to believe it. Your ears strained for any sound of a struggle from downstairs.

“Yes,” Jeno confirmed. “They left.”

You now took the time to really look at him. Judging just by his face, you’d been worried before with good reason. His nose was crooked, lip split open, and travelling down his exposed arms was a horrifying number of slices and cuts. Even part of his left wing was cut open, the crimson blood catching the light as it trailed down his feathers. Mark and Ten had found him before coming for you.

A thundering of footsteps up the stairs reached your ears.

“Y/N!” Renjun yelled out as Jeno folded his wings back to reveal you. The Satori seemed about ready to collapse with relief, “Thank God featherbrain got to you.”

You expected the others to be right behind him, but it seemed as if he’d come up alone.

“Where are—”

“Downstairs. Everyone’s okay for the most part. Jungwoo is probably concussed, some of Johnny’s eyes got sliced pretty bad, and Sicheng mostly has wounded pride. And a possibly broken ankle. I had to threaten to shoot him to get him to sit down instead of running up here.”

“What about you, Renjun?”

“Leapt out of the way of one of that spider dude’s webs and sprained my wrist,” he held up said injured wrist, transforming back into his waiter uniform now that it seemed as though you all were out of danger. “But I’ll be alright.”

“Good,” you nodded, starting towards the stairs to go down and see your injured friends.

Then you heard a thud behind you. Whipping around, you spotted Jeno—back in his typical athleisure wear—poorly propping himself up against the couch.

“Jeno!” You lunged forward, grabbing his arms to help hold him up. “What’s wrong?”

“My wing—” he winced, the appendage in question shuddering as he went to try to move it. “This isn’t something Peppa Pig bandaids will fix.”

Renjun sighed, “Jungwoo won’t be of much help, he can barely remember his name.”

“I know who to call,” you said with determination, guiding Jeno to sit on the couch. You sat down beside him, tightly gripping onto his hand.

“Y/N, he won’t… he won’t help me, remember?” The Tengu had apparently read your mind, but you shook your head, bringing your phone out.

“Renjun,” you motioned for the Satori to come closer. Pulling up Yuta’s contact, you held your phone out him, “Call Yuta from my phone and tell him I’m hurt and that he needs to come to the café right now.”

“I don’t think foxface will like being lied to,” Renjun accepted the device nevertheless.

You gestured to your cheek, “I _am_ injured. He’s just going to have an extra patient he won’t know about.”

With a sigh, he pressed the call button. As the call rang through, you felt Jeno readjust your hands to lace his fingers through yours.

Yuta finally picked up on the last ring, and you couldn’t quite make out his end of the conversation.

“Hey, Yuta, this is Renjun. Yeah, I’m on her phone because there were some Wraiths at the café today and—yeah, she got hurt. Can you—” Renjun pulled back from the phone with surprise, “He hung up. I think that means he’s coming.”

* * *

There was a commotion on the first floor of the café, you could hear some shouts as you sat with Jeno on the couch upstairs. The voices were followed by someone scrambling up the stairs. Despite your mind and body feeling drained and weak from the multitudes of Wraiths you had banished, you still stood to face the newcomer, determined eyes locking onto Yuta as you kept holding Jeno’s hand. And for a moment you were swept away by your own emotions, having not seen the man in so long. Jeno’s back was to the doorway, and the pain in his wing kept him from behind able to turn, so he instead looked up at you for confirmation as to who it was. You broke eye contact with Yuta to nod to Jeno, then turned your hard gaze back onto the Kitsune.

“Y/N, you’re…” Yuta breathed out, worry immediately snapping into anger. “You lied to me! You made Renjun call me and lie to me!”

“Yuta!” You called out to him, letting go of Jeno’s hand to rush over and stop the Kitsune as he turned to leave.

You grasped onto his forearm, “Yuta, please.”

He thankfully stopped, staring at you with a frank look as he waited for you to continue.

“I’m not going to apologize for lying to you, because _that_ would be a lie. I’m not sorry about lying to you, not if—” you broke eye contact look back to the couch, eyes landing on the injured wing sadly sagging lower than the other, trembling and shuddering again. “Please help him.”

Yuta followed your gaze to Jeno, then drew it back to you, sighing and asking quietly, “You love him?”

Your chest tightened, the word unfamiliar, but maybe not exactly inaccurate. Maybe you were in love with Lee Jeno, but this wasn’t the time for that.

Focusing on Yuta’s golden eyes, you replied simply, “Don’t you?”

Yuta shook your hands off him, and for a heartbreaking second, you thought he was still going to leave. But instead, his gaze fixed on the Tengu, and he took slow steps across the loft. He came around the stand in front of Jeno, and you watched on with bated breath.

“You got yourself roughed up pretty bad, featherbrain,” Yuta chastised him half-heartedly, kneeling in front of the couch.

“Yeah,” Jeno agreed.

“But it was for Y/N, right? You were protecting her?”

“Yeah,” he repeated. “I was. I am. I will.”

You sucked your bottom lip between your teeth, biting down on it as Jeno’s simple words tugged and twisted your heart into new shapes.

Yuta nodded solemnly, reaching out towards Jeno’s injured wing. He hummed for a moment as he looked it over. After a moment, he spoke again, “You know the drill.”

Jeno nodded.

The Kitsune lifted his hand up to the wound, gently pressing his fingers to it. You couldn’t see very clearly what he was doing, but you watched Jeno’s wing intensely. It shuddered once more, then righted itself, standing as proud as its twin.

“There,” Yuta announced quietly, then waved you over. “Come on, let me heal up those nasty cuts of yours too, Y/N.”

Walking over to the couch, you saw that all of Jeno’s wounds were gone, but the pained look on his face was still there. You knelt down beside Yuta, then he brought his hand over your cheek and arm next, the injuries quickly disappearing.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he murmured.

Bringing his hand down but not moving from his spot, he sighed. The three of you were quiet for a moment.

“I miss him, Yuta,” Jeno blurted out hurriedly. “I miss LeLe.”

“I know, Jen, me too.”

Yuta heaved himself up on the couch and pulled the Tengu into his arms, hands cradling his head against his chest. Jeno clung onto the Kitsune’s arms as if they were his only grounding to reality. The older man didn’t seem to care at all about the younger man sniffling and sobbing all over his bare arms, stroking his hair soothingly.

“I’m so s—”

Yuta firmly cut his apology short, curling his fingers in Jeno’s hair as he clutched him to his chest, “No, _I’m_ sorry. I shouldn’t have put the blame on you, you were just a kid. That was so unfair of me. _I_ was the one who couldn’t save him. _I_ was the older brother who was supposed to be protecting him. _Me_ , not you.”

“Yut—”

But the Kitsune wasn’t done, continuing to weep as he confessed, “I was the big brother. You were just the little brother, Jen. And you still are to me. Still my knuckleheaded little brother that I should’ve been protecting. I’m sorry, I failed LeLe and I failed you.”

“I forgive you, Yuta.”

“And _please_ , Jen, _please_ forgive yourself as well.”

“I already have.”

You were suddenly strikingly aware that this was not a conversation to be looked in on by you. Right as you went to slowly stand to give them some privacy, someone called out your name.

It was Jeno, and you looked at him attentively. His eyes red and watery as they focused on you.

“Y/N, you’re crying too… come here,” he chuckled, reaching his arms out for you.

Bringing a hand up to touch under your eyes, you hadn’t even realized that you’d been crying watching them. You looked down at your wet fingers in shock, letting Jeno wipe at your tears with his thumbs. Yuta stood up from the couch, allowing Jeno to guide you up there as he quietly cooed over your still falling tears. The kitsune returned with a box of tissues he’d grabbed from somewhere in the loft. The Tengu thanked him quietly, pulling a couple tissues out to now properly dry up your tears.

“Thank you, Y/N,” Yuta said genuinely, gently ruffling up your hair. “For bringing my little brother back to me and helping him when I didn’t.”

You were speechless, too many emotions bubbling up inside you to compute properly.

He seemed to understand, though, smiling brightly as he said, “I’m going to go downstairs, the others could probably use some help.”

“Renjun said Jungwoo could barely remember his own name,” Jeno informed him.

“Ah, brain damage, my specialty. Got plenty of practice healing that between you and—” he stopped, seeming to get choked up for a moment before forcing a bittersweet smile and continuing on. “I got plenty of practice healing brain damage between you and LeLe.”

And with that, Yuta disappeared down the staircase.

“Like Yuta said, thank you, Y/N,” Jeno murmured, setting the soiled tissues aside before he brought you into a tight embrace.

“You’re welcome,” you whispered back, afraid to speak any louder in the quiet space. “It makes me happy, to see you happy.”

“Y/N, I—”

“No, Jeno,” you cut him off, having a hunch about what he was going to say. “I feel the same but… not tonight. We’ve both gone through enough for tonight. We’ll do that another time.”

He chuckled against you, once again cocooning his wings around you, “Okay, yeah, some other time.”

Exhaustion spread throughout your body, and you felt sleep crawling through your veins like a thick syrup. Warmth and contentment swirled in along with it as you were happy to stay right where you were forever.

* * *

That “other time” didn’t come for a few days. You went to school like usual, hanging out with Jaemin, Jaehyun, and Yuta in the quad before your 8 AM. Mark had disappeared from your class, which you were honestly glad for. There was no telling what would happen the next time you saw him.

You went to Jungwoo for your Onmyoji tutoring sessions now, blending them in with your tea parties. Which was where Jeno found you that day.

He looked good, better than he had in the entire time you’d known him. You couldn’t help the bright smile that spread across your face when you saw his head emerging from the staircase to the loft. He was beaming as well, eye smile greeting you. Alert, happy, calm.

“Hey, Jeno,” you looked up at him as he crossed the room to your makeshift tea table.

“Hey,” he gazed down at you softly, then looked to Jungwoo. “Mind if I join?”

“Of course not,” Jungwoo smiled at the Tengu, immediately procuring an empty cup from the tea set and filling it for him. “Lady Onmyoji?”

“No objections from me.”

Jeno sat cross-legged on the ground beside you, gratefully accepting the cup from the Tsukumo-gami.

“I was just about to instruct the Lady Onmyoji in some Divine Arts,” the eldest explained.

“Ah, and what’s the subject for today?” The Tengu questioned, taking a sip of his tea. His nose wrinkled up, and with a slight giggle, you offered out the bowl of sugar cubes to him. He gratefully dumped a few in his drink.

“Channeling the powers of her true Ayakashi. I was going to offer myself up, but since you are here, it would be easier for me to instruct if she were to use you instead.”

Jeno shrugged, “I’m cool with it.”

“So what’s the incantation for this?” You asked Jungwoo, watching with amusement as the Tsukumo-gami picked up a sugar cube and popped it in his mouth.

“That is the thing, Lady Onmyoji. The incantation is different for each Onmyoji and their Ayakashi.”

“How do I know mine?”

“You are to create it yourself.”

You breathed out slowly, “That’s a lot of pressure, Jungwoo. A warning before I came over would’ve been nice. You know, brainstorm, write some ideas down.”

“I apologize, Lady Onmyoji.”

You laid back on your couch cushion, knees propped up by your feet as you stared up at the ceiling. Letting out a groan, you squinted and un-squinted your eyes.

Jungwoo tried to help, “How were you able to summon your powers the first time, Lady Onmyoji? Was there any specific phrase you might have said?”

Knowing exactly what was in the Tengu’s mind, you shot up, glaring at Jeno, “Don’t you dare.”

He was already snickering, “I’m not gonna say anything.”

You flopped back onto the cushion again. After another groan from you, Jeno offered up, “What about ‘Ayakashi Avengers Assemble?’”

“I think Renjun would kill me if I made that our incantation,” you retorted, but that did bring an idea to your mind. Sitting back up, you asked hesitantly, “What about something related to Bell Street, or the café? Since that’s where we all met and it’s kind of our little headquarters.”

“I like that idea.”

Both of them nodded in approval, and you tilted your head side to side as you tried to come up with your phrase.

“Ayakashi of Bell Street, lend me your powers?”

“Don’t phrase it like a question.”

With more determination in your voice, you said, “Ayakashi of Bell Street, lend me your powers.”

“Ooh, I felt all tingly.”

“Jeno—”

“No, seriously!” He insisted against your annoyance at what you assumed to be a jest. “Didn’t you feel it, Jungwoo?”

The Tsumuko-gami agreed, “Jeno is correct, I also felt… ‘all tingly.’ I believe you have found our incantation, Lady Onmyoji.”

“So what’s next?” You asked.

“In order to not summon all of our powers, you will also have to add in a way to specify that you are seeking Jeno’s power.”

“Right, okay. What, like ‘Lee Jeno, lend me your powers?’”

Jungwoo looked over to Jeno inquisitively, “Well, Jeno?”

He clicked his tongue, “Nah.”

“Oh, great,” you collapsed against the couch cushion once more.

“Come on, Y/N,” Jeno stood and grabbed your hands, insistently trying to pull up your melodramatically limp body.

“No, it’s impossible.”

“Come on, we’ll go downstairs, have Johnny make us some food, then we can brainstorm something. Both of us.”

With a sigh, you relented, grabbing his hands and tightening your muscles again to let him pull you up, “Alright, sure. Both of us.”

_Woah._

What was _that?_

You hesitantly looked around the room you were standing in, still holding both of Jeno’s hands. The look on his face mirrored yours.

“Was that it, Lady Onmyoji? What did you feel?” Jungwoo questioned.

“Uh, something. I’m not sure what.”

“Say it again!” Jeno urged you on.

“Both of us.”

And there it was again. A tingling spreading out from your chest to the very tips of your fingers, and the back of your neck felt oddly warm.

Jeno was grinning at you madly, “Again!”

“Both of us.”

And the tingling amped up, becoming a more consist buzz of energy through your body, feeling as if it was being passed through the linking of your hands.

“Did I do it, Jungwoo?” You asked the Tsukumo-gami who was still seated. “Was that the incantation?”

He had a knowing smile on his face as she shook his head, “No, Lady Onmyoji. You have not channeled Jeno’s powers.”

“Then what—”

“You have linked your powers together. Rather than simply _adding_ Jeno’s powers atop your own and controlling them, your powers will build upon each other and increase exponentially while you are linked. I am rather impressed that you were able to do such a thing so early on in your training, Lady Onmyoji. As it has been said, you are indeed a very powerful Onmyoji.”

A blush crept across your neck under both the praise from Jungwoo and implications of your connection with Jeno.

“And how—how do I unlink the powers?”

“I do not believe you wish to unlink your powers, Lady Onmyoji. Do you wish to pause the multiplying of your powers that you are feeling at the moment? Because you are not in a situation which requires such power?”

“Uh, yeah? I think.”

“I think Jungwoo’s trying to say that you can just turn it off, Y/N,” Jeno had the explanation ready this time. “Like your phone. You can either put it to sleep and turn it back on with the press of a button, or take the whole battery out.”

Hoping that you understood his metaphor correctly, you sounded out your words carefully, “Oh. I just want to put it to sleep. The battery can stay in.”

Then the tingling was gone. You could still feel Jeno’s hands in yours, but the same sensation of power from earlier was gone.

“I believe you just did, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo stood as well, beginning to clean up the tea set. “We shall end our session here for today.”

“But I still didn’t channel an Ayakashi’s powers.”

“You’ve done much more than that and exceeded the expectations for today. Take a rest, Lady Onmyoji.”

“We can still have Johnny make us some food,” Jeno reminded you, and you shrugged.

“Alright. Thank you, Jungwoo,” you smiled at the Tsukumo-gami, letting go of Jeno’s hands to help pick up a teacup for him. “Do you need any help putting things away?”

“No thank you. Enjoy your meal.”

You would typically invite Jungwoo to join you two, but this time you oh-so-selfishly wanted to just spend time with Jeno.

“Thank you. Have a good day.”

“Bye, Jungwoo,” Jeno gave him his own farewell as the two of you headed for the stairs.

Jungwoo waved to the best of his ability with a teapot and several teacups in his arms, “Farewell, friends.”

Emerging downstairs, you pushed the curtain aside for you and Jeno to pass through and return to the restaurant area. Thankfully, the café hadn’t been damaged as much in the incident with Ten and Mark as it had been in the very first Wraith incident that it had been nearly demolished in. The only real damage was a chair that been broken in Sicheng and Ten’s brawl, and some bullet holes in the walls that had been easy to patch up.

“Hey, Renjun,” you called out to your friend who was at his host’s stand at the front, his back to you.

He turned around, “What?”

“We’re going to eat here, where should we sit?”

With a rather frank look, he gestured around to the empty café, “Do you really think it matters?”

Chuckling, Jeno gently touched your arm to get your attention, “Booth?”

“Sure.”

Following Jeno to the booth that the ‘Ayakashi Avengers’ typically sat around for your pre-patrol meetings, you suddenly felt nervous. Renjun came over to take your drink orders, then disappeared into the back of the café.

“So have you and Yuta talked since the other day?”

Jeno nodded, “Yeah, we got dinner last night, actually.”

“Good,” you smiled, genuinely happy to hear them getting along again. “He’s been hanging out with us in the quad in the mornings again.”

“Everything’s returning to normal. Well, kind of.”

“Kind of,” you agreed.

“You said Mark hasn’t been in your class lately, right?” Jeno referred to the various phone calls and text conversations you’d had in the past few days.

“Yeah, he’s just… disappeared. Jaehyun commented on it this morning, actually.”

“What’d you say?”

“I was like ‘oh, maybe he’s sick or something, you know.’ Not like I could tell Jae that he probably wasn’t showing up because he had some evil plot that had been put on hold for a moment that includes utilizing my Onmyoji powers and would kill me in the process.”

“You could. He just might be worried about your sanity.”

The both of you chuckled for a moment as Renjun came back with your drinks. The host didn’t say anything, returning to his stand back at the front of the café.

You took a sip of your drink before setting it down with a contemplative sigh, “You were trying to tell me about Mark that night with the car and the Wraiths, weren’t you? But I was being stubborn.”

“No, Y/N, all I knew was that he was another Onmyoji,” Jeno reassured you.

“But you suspected something, didn’t you? That it was too much of a coincidence.”

“Yes… and I wanted to be wrong. You deserve nice, normal friendships.”

“I don’t think I’ll have those ever again,” you snorted, but not upset about this in the slightest. All your Ayakashi friends were fantastic, “Not around here at least. I calculated it: I know more Ayakashi than real humans now.”

“And who are those humans?”

“My parents, Jaemin, Jaehyun, my lab partner in Chem. Five humans, to twelve Ayakashi.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like you’re friends with all of them.”

“Taking out Kun, Doyoung, and Ten, that makes it nine.”

The two of you continued talking and chatting, but your nerves were still on edge. Back in the loft that day, it had felt so easy and logical to know Jeno’s feelings and your own, but now you weren’t sure. Maybe he was just going to thank you or say some other mundane thing. Or maybe he was doing this to let you down easy or something. If that happened, you felt like you might melt into a puddle of shame.

A rustling came from the back of the café, and you flicked your eyes back up the host’s stand with interest. Nope, Renjun was still there. Which meant…

“Hey, guys!” Johnny’s cheery voice met your ears.

You watched him approach your table, three plates of food in hand. He put one in front of each of you, then the third between you. White rice so cleverly packed in the shape of a heart.

“Hand-delivered by the chef,” Jeno commented almost accusatory. “What’s the occasion?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

Both you and Jeno simply looked at him wordlessly, waiting for him to leave.

“Fine, don’t tell me,” the Domeki pouted in false disgruntlement. “It’s still on the house for you two!”

“You’re going to make us bankrupt!” Renjun spun around on his stool to spit at Johnny.

“If you’re going to yell at me, let’s go in the kitchen, and not disturb Y/N and Jeno.”

To your surprise, Renjun stood up. You had expected him to cross his arms, huff, and turn back around.

“Fine. Let’s go to the kitchen,” the Satori agreed.

Once your friends had disappeared behind the curtain again, you made eye contact with Jeno.

“You think that was on purpose?” He asked.

“Oh, absolutely,” you snorted, picking up your fork. “But this still looks really good.”

Despite their not-so-sneaky actions, Renjun and Johnny’s antics had helped you relax and loosen up, truly focusing on enjoying your time with Jeno. You and Jeno disassembled the rice heart quickly, along with the other delicious food.

When your food was finished, you had a warmth in your stomach and your heart.

Jeno looked around the café, “Well, I guess we don’t have to wait for Renjun to bring us the check…”

“Wait to do what?”

He shifted forward and lowered his voice, “I want to take you somewhere else; I have a feeling we’re being watched.”

You turned to glance at the curtain that suspiciously ruffled as soon as you had shifted around. And also had two pairs of shoes sticking out from the bottom.

You leaned forward as well, looking back to him conspiratorially, “Can we at least pretend that we’re dine-and-dashing?”

“Of course,” he offered you his hand.

Giddily, you placed your own atop it, and watched with anticipation as he mouthed ‘one, two, three’ and shot to his feet. You ran out behind him, laughing as he smacked into the menu board outside the entrance in his haste. He stumbled a bit, swears pouring from his mouth as he tried not to fall over. Pulling him down the sidewalk, you were still giggling as the two of you ran away from the café.

The sidewalks were fairly empty that afternoon, and only got more-so as you took random twists and turns away from Bell Street.

“Here, this way!” Jeno suddenly changed directions, pulling you through an alleyway.

Emerging on the other side, you finally started slowing down, your cheeks beginning to hurt from how much you had been grinning. You started to catch your breath, exchanging wild grins with Jeno. He was still laughing, and you fondly kept staring at him, thinking to yourself that you could listen to his laugh for the rest of your life.

He’d sobered up enough to say, “Alright, come on, we’re almost there.”

A few more minutes of walking, and you finally got to your destination. It was a wide-open field, devoid of passing foot traffic, or really any sign of civilization except for the roofs of houses peeking up over the hill.

“This is… nice,” you decided on a word. “Refreshing, I guess? I like it here.”

“I’m not just showing you a field,” Jeno snorted, seeming a bit miffed at the fact that you would even think he would simply bring you to a field.

“Then what are we doing here?”

“Flying.”

“Wh—”

You couldn’t even finish your word before Jeno’s wings appeared and he rose up, hovering about a foot off the ground in front of you. Now having to crane your neck to look up at him, your eyes were wide. Did he really mean—?

“Come on,” he offered a hand out to you.

With some hesitation, you reached your hand towards his own. Before you could set your hand on his, he suddenly swooped down, arms grabbing around your waist. And then your feet were off the ground. Letting out a slight yelp, you threw your arms around his neck, face tucked in the crook of it.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights,” Jeno murmured, his words annoyed but tone soft and concerned as his hand rubbed up and down your back.

You brought your head up slowly, “No, you just caught me off-guard.”

He grinned down at you, “Good.”

You smiled back at him.

Flying like this wasn’t as bad as you thought it’d be. Jeno’s wings were strong, and there was a barely noticeable dip when they flapped. For some reason, your legs were oddly stable, and you figured Jeno was also putting a little cushion of air below them for you to somewhat stand as you went. You still clung onto his neck, but your eyes were looking all around you. The sky was a perfect blue, cloudless, and with a refreshingly cool breeze that tickled your nose and cheeks. Below you was an expanse of greenery, dotted with the occasional patch of colorful wildflowers. And of course, with you, was Lee Jeno.

He kept his arms firmly around your waist, warm breath right by your ear as he kept you close. Small giggles occasionally bubbled up out of you as the two of you flew, and an awe-filled smile didn’t leave your lips the whole time.

Eventually, Jeno began your descent, slowing until you were close enough to the ground for him to gently set you down on your feet.

“That was incredible,” you breathed out, chest heaving with adrenaline.

“I’m glad you thought so,” Jeno smiled, pink dusting his cheeks. You wondered if that was from the wind or something else.

You found your eyes transfixed on his wings, something he must have caught on to.

“Do you want to touch them?” He offered, and your gaze immediately snapped over to meet his. At your apparent hesitation, he shifted one a bit closer to you, “Go ahead, it’s nothing spectacular, I promise.”

Cautiously, you brought your hand up, fingertip barely grazing one of the feathers. At his encouraging nod, you stroked over the top of the large wing, then down against the layers of feathers. Jeno calmly stood there as you tactically explored his wings, and you could feel his gentle gaze on you the whole time.

With warm cheeks, you glance over at him again, retracting your hand, “Thank you.”

The two of you just bashfully smiled at each other for a moment before the Tengu finally spoke up again, “So… what we were saying in the loft.”

“Right,” you agreed, remembering your unspoken reason for seeing each other today. You tried to quell your previous worries about it. Why would he have given you such a wonderful experience to just reject you? He wouldn’t, was the answer. Hopefully.

“You are honestly just… such a wonderful person. And I really like you.”

Now Jeno was definitely blushing, and you couldn’t help but start turning red yourself. With a self-conscious smile, you nodded, barely managing to croak out, “Me too, Jeno.”

He opened his arms, and you launched yourself into them, happiness rushing through you, electrifying every sense as you hugged him. With a whoosh, the ground disappeared from beneath you.

“You’ve got to warn me before you do that!” You went to chastise him, but there wasn’t an ounce of anger in your voice.

“Sorry,” he snickered, nuzzling his nose against your cheek affectionately.

* * *

A bright and happy jingle greeted you as you opened the door to Lenticular Café. Tonight was another patrol night. The Wraiths had been oddly quiet lately, and knowing that they were under Mark’s control made all of you rather uneasy. You tried your best to push that to the back of your mind, too excited to think about much else.

When you walked in, your eyes immediately scanned the room to see who was there. Jungwoo, Yukhei, Johnny, Sicheng, and Yuta. Yuta’s presence brought a bright smile to your face. It was nice to have him back. The ‘Ayakashi Avengers’ finally felt complete again.

“Hey, guys,” you sidled up to where the three were standing around a table, Taeyong not far behind you.

“Hello, Lady Onmyoji,” Jungwoo bowed his head politely in greeting as Yuta pulled you into a hug and ruffled up your hair, which Johnny then fixed for you.

Taeyong still habitually bristled at Yuta apparent ‘scenting’ of you, but you didn’t pay it any mind. The two of them would have to put their petty marking of you behind them. There was someone else who had you, and you had him.

Right then, the bell rang again, and you spun around to see who it was. You couldn’t help the bright grin that immediately came to your features at the figure who’d entered.

You met Jeno halfway, throwing your arms around his neck in a tight embrace. He hugged you back, chuckling slightly at your enthusiasm.

“You’re hugging me like Jaemin now,” he teased, but pecked your cheek in greeting nevertheless.

“Are you complaining?” You scoffed in his ear, pulling back enough to let him see the doubtful eyebrow you had raised.

He pecked your lips this time, “Nope.”

“We’re going to be leaving a little later tonight,” Johnny announced to everyone, starting back towards the kitchens. “Renjun has an assignment due at midnight that he just told me about ten minutes ago; he’s finishing it up right now. Anybody want something to eat?”

While everyone else gave their answers, instead of rejoining the others, Jeno guided you towards a booth off to the side. You sat on the same side as him, perfectly content with sitting there together, his arm around your shoulders as you swapped summaries of your days.

Johnny returned not much later with some snacks for those who wanted them. You and Jeno had gone quiet, a peaceful silence as you simply enjoyed each other’s company and your snacks in that moment.

The others were having a conversation that you were more than happy to eavesdrop on—since they were clearly trying to hide it from you, their backs angled towards you.

“This is the longest I’ve seen Jeno go without yawning,” Johnny commented quietly.

“How long has it been? Ten minutes?” Taeyong questioned, fervently glancing in your direction.

“A month.”

“Wow,” Sicheng breathed out.

“I know.”

Jungwoo spoke up this time, pride in his voice, as he admitted, “I can confirm he has not visited me for my apothecary skills in quite some time.”

Taeyong asked, “You think it’s Y/N?”

“Oh yeah, pretty kitty,” Yuta scoffed, as if not believing that Taeyong would even question that. “It’s absolutely because of her.”

You leaned over to whisper to Jeno, “They’re talking about us.”

“I don’t mind,” Jeno murmured back, pressing a light kiss to the shell of your ear. “It’s all true.”

* * *

“What did he do on your first date?” Jaemin asked, arms crossed as you stood in the quad one morning.

You’d finally told him that you and Jeno were together. The two of you had discussed it last night and you’d decided that you should be the one to do it; Jaemin and you had been best friends since you were little and told each other everything. This was your cross to bear.

And so far, he was taking it with great suspicion and hesitation.

You were debating what to count as your first date: when Jeno took you flying, or the first date you went on after confessing to each other.

The latter would be easier to explain, “We went to the fair that was in town recently and—”

“You guys went to a fair without me?” Jaemin gasped loudly, throwing a hand over his chest.

“Oh my god you are so dramatic,” you rolled your eyes, looking to your other two friends for some assistance.

Jaehyun, meanwhile, had a shit-eating grin on his face. Probably reveling in the fact that he ‘knew’ before Jaemin did. He didn’t; you and Jeno weren’t together when Jaehyun misinterpreted that phone call. But you had bigger fish to fry right now in the form of Na Jaemin.

Yuta was also watching on with amusement. He’d already gone through the five stages of grief a few weeks ago when he saw you and Jeno kiss for the first time.

“This is the ultimate betrayal,” he declared. “Going to a fair without me.”

“You are ridiculous, Jaemin.”

“Did he at least win you something?”

“Yeah, a little plush bird,” a fond smile came to your face as you remembered it.

He swore he hadn’t cheated when he seemingly miraculously got enough points for the black cartoon raven plush that you had jokingly pointed out reminded you of him. Either way, it was now sitting in the corner of your couch.

Jaemin regarded your answer with narrowed eyes, “Mm, alright.”

“Is that it?”

“For now.”

You scoffed, glancing at the time on your phone, “Oh, time to go to class! Bye, guys!”

Jaehyun followed you from the group with a chuckle, “Jaemin means well.”

“I know. Doesn’t mean he’s not annoying and melodramatic,” you retorted, leading the way across campus.

“So did you do the assignment?”

“What assignment?” You turned to him with wide eyes.

He snickered at your alarm, mussing up your hair, “I’m only kidding, there’s no assignment.”

As you fixed your hair with a scowl on your face, you briefly thought to yourself that this was nice. Being with your friends, having a good, normal, daily routine and life.

* * *

The professor dismissed class, and you let out a sigh of relief. You stayed back to allow the others in your row to hurry out first. After all, it was a Friday afternoon, everybody wanted to leave school as soon as possible. As you stood to sling your bag over your shoulder, you heard your name called out from the front.

Attentively, you walked up to your professor’s desk, “Yes?”

“I wanted to ask if you would consider being an SI for this class next semester,” she said with a smile. “You have one of the best grades of your section and seem very passionate about the subject.”

You felt your eyebrows shoot up in surprise, “Oh! Really?”

“Of course, Y/N. Take some time to think it over, I’ll need your decision by the end of next week.”

“Okay, thank you!” You grinned back brightly at her before taking your own leave of the classroom.

Outside your lecture hall, you spotted a familiar figure leaning against the wall. Jeno didn’t have any Friday classes but still insisted on picking you up at the end of yours.

He pushed off the wall to greet you, pressing a kiss to your temple, “Hey there.”

“Hey,” you smiled, taking his hand in yours to lead the way out of the Science building. “Guess what my professor just told me.”

“What’d she tell you?”

“She wants me as an SI for the class next semester!”

“That’s awesome!” He congratulated you, squeezing your hand as he pulled you a little closer to bump his shoulder against yours.

Emerging from the building into the warm sunshine, you asked, “How has your day been?”

“Great; I slept in, pressed snooze on my alarm once and was woken up by a pillow in the face from Jaemin.”

You chuckled, “Why?”

“He heard my alarm but not the sounds of me getting ready, so he wanted to make sure I wasn’t late to get you from class.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image, “Sounds about right.”

You’d just stepped foot off-campus, your destination being the park where Chenle’s tree was. The two of you had taken to visiting it every other week, meeting up with Yuta there as well. You all rotated out who was bringing/buying lunch, and it’s become a rather happy time for everyone to make memories.

“It seems like he’s a lot more violent with me nowadays.”

Before you could discuss that claim further, a bad feeling washed over you. Specifically, the feeling of Wraiths. Several of them. Jeno had noticed the same thing you did, his grip on your hand tightening as he tensed up.

There had been no Wraiths out and about for weeks at this point. They’d gone frighteningly quiet, a disturbing peace that you hadn’t taken for granted. That didn’t mean that you didn’t hope they were gone forever, thought. You could still dream.

But now a shiver ran up your spine, and you tried to keep your breathing level as you and Jeno continued on your path. The rules of your patrols still held true: don’t instigate fights with them.

You tried to keep up a light conversation, “What do you think Yuta’s bringing for lunch?”

“Knowing him, he probably convinced Johnny to pack the food instead of doing it himself,” Jeno’s voice was still tense as he replied, the normal teasing humor gone with the uneasy situation you were in. “He also said he had a surprise for us when we got there.”

“Intriguing.”

As you persisted on your walk, the bad feeling only followed you.

The feeling of Jeno’s fingers laced through yours helped to keep you grounded as you neared the park. Just a few more blocks. Not that you were sure what exactly would happen there, but you knew that whatever _was_ going to happen, it would be better to have two of your friends with you.

Your chest tightened as the presence of the Wraiths grew stronger. More of them were gathering, yet you couldn’t see any. They were staying just out of sight. From nothing to this almost dizzying amount of Wraiths so suddenly couldn’t mean anything remotely good.

Jeno swiveled his head around, and you glanced around as well. No sign of Wraiths, and no sign of passerby. The street you were on was startlingly empty.

“Y/N,” he leaned in close to your ear to whisper. “Hold on.”

You wrapped your arms tightly around his neck, bracing yourself. His wings erupted from his back, and with a sudden and powerful flap, the two of you were off the ground. A black mass had followed the two of you into the sky, and you locked your eyes on it, banishing it within an instant. Jeno suddenly jerked to the side, and you craned your neck around to look at what it was. Another Wraith had shot up in front of you, and you focused your powers on that one next.

Dodging and banishing Wraith after Wraith, the park was finally below you. You looked down, spotting Yuta almost immediately.

“Put me down,” you requested, idea brewing in your mind.

“Featherbrain! Over here!” The Kitsune yelled up.

Jeno obliged, swooping lower to the ground. Yuta held his arms up, easily accepting you from the Tengu. You held tight to Yuta as he stumbled back a few steps from your remaining momentum. With your feet back on the ground, you watched as Jeno ascended once gain to deal with the Wraiths in the air. You and Yuta had your own on the ground to deal with.

“Can you banish them all?” Yuta double-checked with you, to which you nodded resolutely.

“I’ve got it.”

You stood back-to-back with Yuta, using one hand to fend off the Wraiths with mindless shields that would pop up and down between you and them. Your real focus was on reciting an incantation that would banish more than one Wraith at once. It required your own feet to be quite stable, which was why you’d had your boyfriend put you down. Not to mention that it freed up his agility and ability to fight the Wraiths without having to carry you along.

“Evil spirits of days past heed these powers of the Onmyoji. Flee this place for eternity!” You cried out.

Disappointment washed over you when you saw less than a handful disappear. But you had to keep going.

“Evil spirits of days past heed these powers of the Onmyoji. Flee this place for eternity!”

The two that had been pursuing Jeno in the air were gone, and he took only a moment to refocus on another target.

“Evil spirits of days past heed these powers of the Onmyoji. Flee this place for eternity!”

Yuta had just knocked one back, and it too disappeared, along with the three that had been in front of you.

“Evil spirits of days past heed these powers of the Onmyoji. Flee this place for eternity!”

There were no more in the air, allowing Jeno to double team the remaining ones on the ground with Yuta.

“Evil spirits of days past heed these powers of the Onmyoji. Flee this place for eternity!”

Just one was left, and you were glad. Your chest was beginning to hurt as it heaved and shuddered with the effort you were putting in.

“Evil spirits of days past heed these powers of the Onmyoji. Flee this place for eternity!”

And it was gone. With a relieved sigh, you half-fell half-lowered yourself onto the ground. Your breaths were short and ragged, head pounding as you tried to catch your breath. A soothing hand was rubbing and down your back as a warm chest pressed against your side.

“You did so good, Y/N,” Jeno murmured, and it all seemed rather dark around you.

That was when you realized that his wings had encircled around you, and you were able to relax again.

“Here,” Yuta said quietly from above you.

The wings disappeared, and you squinted up at your kitsune friend as he held a hand out towards you. He delicately placed his hand atop your hair, and you felt immediate relief from your headache.

“I can’t replenish your power, but you should physically feel better.”

You nodded, able to feel what he was talking about. Your head no longer hurt, and fresh air freely rushed into your lungs again. But deep down, you still felt a distinct tired ache that marked the depletion of your powers. Squinting up at your friend—who had the sun directly behind him—you saw that his true form had popped out in the short fight that had just ensued. Black fox ears, and three black tails. No, not three tails anymore. _Four_ tails.

“Yuta, you’ve got another tail,” you observed in awe.

The Kitsune grinned down at you and Jeno, “That was my surprise! I’ve finally started spiritually maturing again, gaining more tails. And its thanks to you guys.”

“Congrats, Yuta,” Jeno reached a hand out, which the other Ayakashi grasped tightly for a moment.

You mustered up a warm smile for the Kitsune’s accomplishment, “I’m glad we helped.”

“Well, lunch?” Yuta’s ears and tails disappeared before he walked over to the base of the tree, picking up a bag from the ground.

“Are you up for it, Y/N?” Jeno asked you, concern in his features.

You pecked his nose, “Of course.”

Jeno readjusted as the other Ayakashi returned, his wings disappearing as he sat down beside you, shoulder-to-shoulder. Yuta unzipped the bag, and you were able to chuckle as realized that he had, in fact, brought food from Lenticular Café. After all, Johnny’s emoji Tupperware set was rather distinct.

As Yuta brought the food out, there was still a lingering feeling of… _something_ in the back of your mind. You shook it off, figuring that it was residual Wraith energy or whatever. And you just wanted to enjoy your time with your boyfriend and friend.

Shrugging your school bag off, you pulled out a notebook and pen, “I’m going to send the others a note to let them know what happened.”

You sent one to the café, one to Taeyong back at your apartment, and another to Sicheng—who was presumably at the bookstore. After watching the cranes shoot off to their destinations, you tucked your stuff back into your bag.

A buzzing from your back pocket alerted you to an incoming call, and you pulled it out with interest. Your blood ran cold at the caller ID.

_Mark Lee_

The other two must have seen the look on your face, and Jeno took it upon himself to look at your phone screen.

“Mark,” he announced, making the kitsune’s eyes go wide. “Why the hell is he calling you?”

All you could manage was a tense shrug, then accepted the call.

“Hello?”

“Good to see that you’ve continued improving,” Mark commented, pride in his tone.

That was the lingering feeling. Onmyoji. Mark, specifically. You whipped your head around, knowing that he was somewhere near.

“Why did you call me?”

“So you and the Tengu are together now.”

“ _Why_ did you call me?”

“Ten found that interesting.”

Ten. At the mention of the Jorogumo’s name, your senses heightened. He was here too. But where?

_“Why did you call me?”_

“Can we please just have a conversation, Y/N? I’m not trying to be your enemy here. I think we can work together.”

“You called me to have a chat? Last time you tried that it turned into something other than a chat.”

“It’s not my fault you can’t control your Ayakashi guard dogs.”

“Ten wasn’t exactly being peaceful either,” you retorted.

“Seeing your Mizuchi dragon struck a nerve with him, I’ll admit that.”

You shook your head at the way he spoke about the Ayakashi, “They’re people, Mark. They’re my friends.”

“Right. Have you spoken to Jungwoo about me?”

“What does Jungwoo know about you?”

“More than you know about him, Y/N,” Mark informed you coolly. “See you in class.”

And he hung up.

Lowering your phone from your ear, you looked at Jeno and Yuta with wide eyes. They had heard your half of the conversation at least and had equally worried looks on their faces.

“What did he say, Y/N?” Yuta asked.

“He said to ask Jungwoo about him,” your mouth was dry as you responded, still replaying his farewell. “And that he’d see me in class.”

“Well you’re not going to go to class, are you?” Jeno brushed a piece of hair from your face, the knitting of his brow letting you know that it was more to soothe himself than you.

You firmly shook your head, “No… I’ll have Jaehyun send me the notes.”

“Still worried about school, Y/N?” The kitsune scoffed.

“Fighting Wraiths doesn’t exactly pay well. Or anything at all.”

“Okay, we should go to the café and talk to Jungwoo,” he determined, packing the food back up.

Jeno stood first, offering you a hand up, which you gladly took. You took your phone out, relieved to see that your signal was back. With one hand holding Jeno’s, you typed out your message in the group chat.

[you: everyone who can, come to the café right now]

* * *

To your surprise, everyone was there when you arrived. Even Taeyong, curiously enough. Someone must have gone out to get him when they got your text, and the Nekomata bounded up to you with concern on his features.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” He asked, ear flicking nervously as he gave you a brief once-over. “I got your note. The Wraiths are back?”

The blinds had been shut and doors locked behind you, café completely devoid of patrons. You forced out a smile, “I’m fine, Yong. And more than just the Wraiths are back; Mark called me after the attack.”

The others all took in sharp breaths of surprise. Sicheng’s eyes narrowed, gaze hard and resigned as he seemed to immediately accept your claim. Johnny closed his eyes, head tilted back as he let out a low string of curses under his breath. Renjun’s heterochromia immediately came out, while Taeyong’s ears flattened back against his head, hackles raised. Jungwoo looked down at his hands, and your statements had even managed to get a sizeable reaction from Yukhei: his hands clenched into fists before one of them patted his brother’s shoulder.

“What did he say, Y/N?” Renjun voiced the question presumably on everyone’s minds—except the two who already knew.

Deciding to skip on the thinly veiled threat of seeing you in class, you instead focused your sights on the seated Tsukumo-gami who seemed unable to look at you in that moment, “He told me to ask Jungwoo about him.”

Yukhei’s grip on the eldest’s shoulder tightened just a bit, “Jungwoo, you don’t have to—”

“No, brother, I do,” Jungwoo patted his hand, gaze lifting to meet yours. “I am an open book. Please, ask me whatever you need.”

Jeno took the first crack at him, “How do you know him?”

“Yukhei and I were staying at the shrine not only for my benefit, but the benefit of the town you all call home. We were the protectors of a great power that lay below the shrine, to make sure nobody tried to awaken it and use it for their own purpose. Some time ago a young Onmyoji—I suppose he must have been barely adolescent then—began visiting us. He claimed he had stumbled upon our home by chance, just following a feeling he had. I told him he must have sensed that we were Ayakashi.”

You were able to guess, “It was Mark.”

“Yes, Lady Onmyoji, the Onmyoji who had found us was indeed your former classmate. I found it harmless to talk with and guide this Onmyoji. After a short time, he stopped coming. I thought he must have moved; he had been discussing his upcoming college plans with us after all. But now I know what he was doing. I am not sure if his original intention for coming to the shrine was to awaken the power that lay beneath it, but I am sure that is his intention now.”

Renjun crossed him arms, “What is the power, exactly?”

“An old Wraith, one whose legend has been lost to time,” Jungwoo’s voice was clear, staring off into the distance as he spoke. “If one were to harness its power correctly, they could do most anything they wished.”

Forcing the words past your closing throat, you breathed out, “Mark said he wanted to do a ritual that would bring his father back.”

“Yes, he had mentioned that his father was an Onmyoji that had passed,” he nodded, looking rather forlorn as he admitted this. “I am sorry, I should have realized this sooner.”

“No, Jungwoo,” you let go of Jeno’s hand to step forward and take both of the Tsukumo-gami’s in yours. Squeezing your friend’s hands, you bitterly professed, “I should’ve told you—all of you—about him the minute I knew he was an Onmyoji.”

Jungwoo looked up at you, lightly squeezing your hands back as he whispered, “Thank you, Lady Onmyoji.”

“So Mark is trying to summon this mega-wraith to bring his dad back from the dead,” the Satori brought the group’s focus back to the threat at hand.

You gave Jungwoo a final soft smile before releasing his hands and stepping back to your place beside Jeno. Your boyfriend’s hand found its natural place on the small of your back, the warmth of it reassuring you.

“Can’t I just banish the Wraith?” It seemed like the most obvious solution to you, so you were unsure as to why both the Tsukumo-gami’s features darkened when you said it.

To your surprise, it was Yukhei that addressed you, “You’re going to kill yourself trying to do it, Onmyoji. You’re not powerful enough.”

“Even with all five of our powers perfectly channeled by you, Lady Onmyoji, it is not a guarantee,” Jungwoo’s own response wasn’t much better than his brother’s ominous statement.

The group was dead silent as everyone absorbed the words of the two brothers. But you were determined, even more-so when Jeno’s hand grabbed yours tightly.

“I have to try,” you declared, digging the nails of your free hand into your palm in hopes to hide your fear in the painful crescent marks left there.

“If we do nothing then he’s guaranteed to succeed,” Sicheng agreed, though he didn’t seem very happy about it.

Johnny sighed, “I don’t like this. I’m letting everyone know that I hate this idea.”

“Nobody’s ecstatic over it,” Jeno shot back, the trembling breath he let out afterwards alerting you to the genuine anxiety he felt.

“Well, you’re definitely going to die if you don’t have all of us,” Renjun’s face was red even as he set his decided gaze on you.

“And you’ll have pretty kitty and I for backup!” Yuta promised, even Taeyong was too worried to snap at the kitsune’s nickname for him.

“I go where my brother goes,” Yukhei informed you again, and you took this as his own commitment of assistance.

With an eerily familiar feeling that was now tinged with fear, you nodded resolutely, “Thank you guys. So much.”


	4. [four]

The weekend flew by with your preparations for inevitable mega-wraith banishing. You worked with Jungwoo and the others well into the night on channeling your True Ayakashi’s powers; there was the issue of learning a brand-new incantation for the banishment of this specific wraith; and of course, trying to come up with a better name for your group than ‘Ayakashi Avengers.’ That last one wasn’t quite a priority, but it did take up most of the time in your breaks, including the one you were having right now.

“I don’t know why you’re being such a pissbaby about it, Renjun,” Yuta snorted, tone more teasing than anything else. “You’re the one who came up with it.”

“It wasn’t a serious submission for our official name,” the Satori shot back, popping a chip into his mouth.

You chuckled as you listened to them, laid back on one of the central tables as they bickered in a booth together. Johnny had just brought out food and water, reminding you to stay hydrated and not over-exert yourself.

It was Sunday night, and you found yourself wondering about tomorrow. You weren’t going to your eight a.m., that was for sure. And going to your other classes felt absolutely pointless; not to mention that there was no way you could be sure Mark’s words were really contained to just your World Lit class.

The table shook just a bit under you, and you craned your neck back to see behind you. Jeno was kneeling above you, fingers gently tracing your jawline before moving to thread through the hair he could reach. You hummed in content, relaxing your neck again to let him continue.

“They’re ridiculous, aren’t they?” Jeno murmured, trying to keep a nonchalance in his voice.

But you knew what he was thinking, the same thing you were thinking. Readjusting into a sitting position, you faced Jeno, lacing both your hands with his. He anxiously brought one of your hands up to his mouth, pressing a light kiss to your knuckles. He was worried, and so were you.

“Hey lovebirds!” Renjun called out to you two.

“Lovebirds, featherbrain, you’re a genius, Ren!” Yuta declared.

“Don’t call me that.”

Renjun’s distaste of the apparent nickname only made Yuta howl louder, “Oh you really said big brain time with that one, Rennie.”

You couldn’t question Yuta’s mental state for long as you spotted the bottle of vodka on their table. Of course. Sicheng and Johnny had joined them, everyone’s cheeks varying shades of pink. Save for Sicheng, who had ocean blue scales shimmering along where his blush should be. Renjun seemed the most sober out of them, focus still on you and Jeno.

Jungwoo had gone upstairs to make some tea, his brother on his heels; and Taeyong in his cat form was napping on the stairs.

“What’s up, Renjun?” Jeno asked, thumb rubbing circles along your skin.

He shook his head, “Johnny has something to ask you.”

“Oh, you got me tipsy on purpose, Renjun,” Johnny accused him, words slightly slurred. But nevertheless, he continued, “I’ve been wondering…”

You raised an eyebrow, “About what?”

“You’ve got Taeyong, Y/N.”

“Yeah…”

“Jeno’s got Jaemin.”

“Not sure if that comparison was intentional or not,” you snickered to Jeno, who smiled in return.

“What are you guys going to do when you wanna—”

“Johnny!” Sicheng cut in with a hiccup.

“Let me finish!” The Domeki shushed his friend before restarting. “What are you guys going to do when you wanna move in together?”

That was so much better than you were expecting. Looking over to Jeno, it seemed he had been expecting Johnny to ask the same thing you—and presumably Sicheng—had. You hadn’t considered that situation, but Johnny was right. Having Taeyong sleeping at the end of your bed with you and Jeno would be weird, there was no way around that. And living with your boyfriend and your own mutual best friend would be weird too. But you couldn’t abandon Taeyong on the streets.

“Ah,” Jeno had a thoughtful frown on his features. “That’s not something we’ve talked about.”

“Pretty kitty can come live with me!” Yuta blurted out, “I’ll give you plenty of visiting time and everything.”

You laughed, unable to tell if it was supposed to be along the lines of joint custody of a child, giving away of your pet, or a prison sentence for Taeyong.

“I think this is a conversation to be had… not now,” you shook your head, your eyes flitting over to the white cat sleeping on the second stair from the bottom. He should have a say as well—after all, they were your friends, their own people. You didn’t own any of these Ayakashi around you.

Yuta continued trying to formulate a pitch for letting Taeyong come and live with him while you only half-listened, fingers playing with your phone case. As you went to pop it back on, something inside fell out. You picked it up, memories washing over you as you recognized the familiar business card.

_‘You can call me if you need anything.’_

The more Ayakashi on your side the better, right?

“Hey,” you nudged Jeno’s side, drawing his attention to the business card. “What do you think?”

Jeno tilted his head, “About what?”

“Do you think he’d help? Should we ask for his help?”

“Well,” the Tengu scooted forward to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you back into him, hooking his chin over your shoulder. With his mouth much closer to your ear, he was able to whisper, “Sicheng wouldn’t love it.”

“Right, he hates ogres or something,” you agreed, but still couldn’t shake it off. “But he seems like he’d be a good help, and if he did it, his assistant would probably come too.”

“Couldn’t hurt to ask, I suppose.”

You hurriedly dialed the handwritten number, putting the phone on the side where Jeno was, so he could hear it as well without you putting it on speakerphone for the whole room to hear. They were all caught back up in their own conversation once more.

The line rang once, twice, thrice, four times before it was picked up.

“Well hello, Y/N,” Kun’s smooth voiced reached your ears.

“Hey, Kun,” you replied quietly, resting a hand atop Jeno’s that was around your front.

“It’s been some time since we last spoke.”

“It has,” you agreed, trying to keep your tone light. “I need your help.”

“Are you only ever going to contact me when you need my help?” He teased you, and you tightened your grip on Jeno’s hand.

“Please.”

Kun sighed, seeming to pick up on this being something more serious, “I’m a man of promises. What do you need?”

“It would be easier to explain in person. When would you be available to come to the café?”

“I’m free right now.”

“Okay, we’ll see you soon, then?”

“Yes. Wait, we?”

“Thanks, bye!”

Hanging up with Kun, you could feel Jeno sigh against your back, nuzzling his face further into your neck. He mumbled something you could understand against your skin, and you tapped his head with yours.

“What was that, Jeno?” You murmured.

He adjusted his head to speak clearer, “You should probably give everybody a heads up.”

“Right.”

* * *

Sicheng was not happy with you asking for Kun’s help but accepted that it could be beneficial. You were unsure of if Jungwoo and Yukhei knew the Oni; but working under the assumption that Kun was older than Johnny, and that it appeared as though all the Ayakashi in town knew each other in some way, you figured they might.

Your group’s friendly chatter immediately ceased when the bell above the door jingled. All heads whipped around to face the newcomer. Or, newcomer _s_. Doyoung entered in right behind Kun; your assumptions had been correct.

“Ah, this is what you meant by ‘we,’” Kun directed his comment at you, to which you gave a half-smile in response.

“Yes, ‘we,’” you gestured to your rather large group before waving your hand towards the two empty seats between Johnny and Yukhei, “Sit.”

They did so, Kun looking around the group almost analytically. Sicheng was beside you, and you felt him tense up immediately, blue eyes flaring up and scales surfacing along his skin. You were honestly surprise he hadn’t busted out his full battle form yet. Kun’s eyes were focused on you, eyebrow quirked up inquisitively.

“What do you need my help with?”

“How much do you know about the situation with the Wraiths in the city?” You questioned, trying to gauge how much backstory you’d have to give him.

“They’re being controlled by someone else, and its serious enough to get the hermit down here,” he nodded towards Jungwoo— who was on the other side of Yukhei.

“And do you know the Onmyoji controlling them?”

“He has stopped by my office a few times to discuss some things, yes. Do you?”

You narrowed your eyes slightly, trying to figure out if he was bluffing. After all, he was a rather notorious businessman from what you could understand. Eventually, you determined to just tell him straight out.

“Mark Lee. Why has he been coming to your offices?”

“Some kind of Ayakashi recruitment. I told him I wasn’t interested in being controlled by some neurotic twelve-year-old with daddy issues,” Kun snorted, still watching you like a predator watching his prey. Seeing if you’d stand up to his implicit challenge, prove that you were someone worthy of his help, that you could offer something Mark couldn’t.

You answered simply, “I have no interest in controlling you.”

“Really?”

“I don’t control any of the Ayakashi you see here. Not even the ones that I share bond marks with. We all work together because we want to, because we have to. But not because I force them to.”

“And why should I want to work with you?”

You bit your lip. That was a good question. You didn’t have a lot to compensate him with. Or anything, really. None of your friends made a move to speak up, letting you take the floor on this one.

“Because you’re a man of promises.”

“I haven’t promised anything like this.”

“Haven’t you? You do your business in this city, you put your time and energy into its economy. You made your life here, you’ve made a promise to the city.”

“And you believe that neurotic twelve-year-old could destroy our city?”

“He alone cannot,” Jungwoo spoke up, voice clear and resounding. “But the power which resides below the shrine can. And he intends to release and control it.”

Kun tilted his head as if he were thinking it over, “Doyoung?”

The snow spirit’s sharp eyes focused on his boss, “I believe it would be in your best interest to provide the assistance they request.”

“I agree,” he nodded, cool features breaking into a wide smile as he met your gaze. “We will help you.”

A relieved chuckle wormed its way up your throat, “Thank you, Kun.”

Johnny jovially slapped Doyoung’s shoulder, “Good to have you guys—shit! You’re fucking freezing, dude.”

Doyoung was glaring at the Domeki, seeming not at all concerned for Johnny’s unnaturally pink hand.

“I think I just got frostbite touching him, feel it!” Johnny pressed his hand to Yuta’s neck, causing a rather unfortunate sequence to be put in effect.

“Fuck!” Yuta flinched away, unintentionally smacking Taeyong, who then lost his balance and proceeded to fall off his chair, right at Renjun’s feet. The Satori backed away from the contact, running his chair over Jeno’s foot.

“Watch it, Renjun!” Jeno hissed, pulling his foot back.

You were laughing so hard that no sound came out, vision blurry with tears as you cackled, slapping Jeno’s thigh as you tried to calm yourself down, unable to get air. Jeno laughed as well, trying to shush you as he grabbed your hand in his, which you squeezed tightly as the next wave of laughter rushed over you.

“I hope _this_ doesn’t carry over to how you fight,” Kun was watching the entire affair with a light smile across his lips. At least he found it funny as well.

“If you mean our camaraderie, that does carry over onto the battlefield,” Jungwoo answered the Oni’s question. “The unfortunate domino effect you just witnessed… not usually. I believe this is primarily because of the alcohol some had consumed earlier.”

“Except Taeyong,” Renjun snorted as the Nekomata struggled to get back up into his chair. “He didn’t drink, he’s just like that.”

“Hey!”

* * *

There were a few more things for you all to discuss before the group slowly started breaking off to go home. Sicheng departed first, probably ready to be rid of Kun’s presence.

To your surprise, he jerked his head in a motion for you to follow him outside. Curious, you did so, silent along with him as he waited for the door to shut fully.

“I have a hard time trusting Kun—or any ogres,” he began once the door clicked closed. “However, because you have accepted him as an ally, I will fight alongside him.”

“Thank you, Sicheng,” you acknowledged the personal sacrifice he was making in order to help you.

“And I’m very surprised you were able to win him over with an argument about duty and honor.”

The corner of your mouth quirked up in amusement, “Maybe he’s not as bad as you think he is, Sicheng.”

“Maybe.”

Next to depart was Yuta.

“Hey, you want to stay at my place tonight, pretty kitty?” He offered to Taeyong, shooting you a comical wink.

“No!” Taeyong recoiled in disgust as the Kitsune tossed an arm over his shoulders.

“Come on, I’ll even get cat food from the corner store!”

“I eat the same food you do!”

“Even better!”

Johnny went to try to smooth it over, “You can stay here if you’d like, Taeyong.”

“And get stepped on by Bigfoot?” He snorted, referencing Yukhei. “No thanks. I’ll just go sleep at my actual home, thanks.”

Yuta sighed dramatically, shrugging at you, “I tried my best, sorry.”

“You’re fucking annoying, goodbye,” you rolled your eyes, shoving him towards the door.

After Yuta stumbled out chuckling, you turned back to be greeted by a worried Taeyong, eyes big, pout on his lips, and ears flicking nervously.

“Do you not want me to stay with you, Y/N?” He asked quietly, voice wavering.

“Oh, Yong,” you sighed, rubbing behind his ears. “Let’s talk about it at home, okay? It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

Realizing that it’d be better to talk to Taeyong sooner rather than later, you kept one hand rubbing his ear as you offered the other out to Jeno, addressing the others, “We’re going to get going too. See you guys later.”

Kun’s eyes dragged over Jeno’s fingers that were laced with yours, “So you _are_ only ever going to contact me when you need help.”

You simply gave him and his assistant another bow, “Thank you again, Kun and Doyoung.”

Walking out between Jeno and Taeyong, you drank in the cool night air. Earlier Jeno had insisted on staying a few nights with you while Mark’s threat was still fresh in your minds, and you didn’t argue it at all. This would also give you a good opportunity to talk to Taeyong about the future of him living with you. When he was simply your cat, that was a no-brainer, but now it was more complicated. You didn’t have to decide anything tonight, or tomorrow morning—whenever you got around to the conversation—but it was good for you to start thinking about it.

In your apartment, tiredness immediately flooded your being. Not only had your Onmyoji powers been drained, but you felt both physically and emotionally tired as well.

Curled up in the corner of your couch in your pajamas, you blearily watched Jeno move around in your kitchen. He returned to the couch with a couple steaming mugs, and you were delighted when you sniffed it. Hot chocolate. The drink was still too hot, so you left it on the coffee table, settling back into Jeno after he had squeezed between you and the arm of the couch.

Taeyong walked out of the kitchen next, presumably having just finished off his bowl of food you’d set down when you got in.

“What are we watching tonight?” He asked cheerily, moving to grab the remote from the coffee table.

You stopped him gently, “Yong, we should talk.”

“About what?” The Nekomata’s voice was higher as he sat on the other side of the couch.

You scooted forward, hands outstretched for him to take hesitantly, “Taeyong, I have loved living with you as both my cat and my friend. You are one of my best friends, and we will never not be family. But someday—and I’m not saying right this very minute—but someday, you and I aren’t going to live together.”

His eyes were watering, “W-why?”

With a tight chest and breaking heart, you stayed firm, “You need to have your own life too, Taeyong, not one revolved around and dependent on me. You’re your own person, not my pet or something I own. You’re Taeyong, not Tama, and you should have your own friends, your own place, your own existence outside me and this apartment. We don’t need to make any plans or decisions tonight, but we should start thinking about it, okay?”

Taeyong visibly gulped, letting go of one of your hands to wipe at his eyes. You bit your lip sadly, trying to keep your own tears back.

“Okay, yeah, I understand,” he accepted it, forcing out a bittersweet smile. “You’re always going to be my human, Y/N.”

“Of course,” you nodded, giving his hands one final squeeze before letting them go, then ushered humor back into the conversation, “Yuta’s already setting up a room for you at his place, actually.”

He wrinkled his nose, “No.”

* * *

After saying goodnight to Taeyong—who would be sleeping in the living room—you were laying in bed with Jeno that night, feeling warm and content, arms wrapped around his torso as you rested your cheek on his chest. He ran gentle fingers through your hair, lulling you further and further towards sleep.

“So it’s looking like you’ve got a pretty good team with you, Y/N,” he murmured quietly.

“Yeah,” you agreed with a tight voice.

Presumably hearing the change in your tone, Jeno paused his ministrations to instead smooth a hand up and down your back, “Something wrong, Y/N?”

“This ritual, and the fight…”

“What about it?”

“I’ve been practicing my Onmyoji stuff, everybody has been working so hard to help out and get ready. But I still don’t know exactly what’s going to happen,” you admitted quietly, tightening your grip on Jeno. “I’m a little scared.”

“Me too, Y/N,” he whispered, voice so quiet that if there were any other sounds aside from your breathing, you wouldn’t have been able to hear it.

“But I’ve got the other guys, and I’ve got you. So I know it’s going to be okay.”

“Yeah, it will,” Jeno reassured you, dropping light kisses against your hair.

Sleep was starting to feel thick in your veins, and you craned your neck up to lock your mouth with his briefly. Breaking the kiss, you didn’t pull back far, breaths still mingling in the space between your mouths as you admitted, “I love you, Lee Jeno.”

Jeno’s fingers twitched in your hair before they fell a little lower, rubbing at the skin just above the collar of your shirt, where your bond mark was. He smiled down at you, eyes turning into the most delightful crescents as he kissed you again.

“I love you too, Y/L/N Y/N.”

* * *

A buzzing from under your pillow woke you up at all hours of the night. It felt too early to be your school alarm.

Reaching under your pillow, you grabbed your phone, squinting at the bright and garish light. Not even bothering to see who was calling you, you dismissed it. Whatever it was could be dealt with in the morning.

Right as you had burrowed back into a comfortable position, your phone rang again. Ready to curse the person out, you answered the call, _“What?”_

It was Jaemin, his voice panicked as he said, “Y/N, Jeno went out and he left his phone.”

Confusion washed over your being as you felt around in your bed. It was empty, “Wait, when did he go back to your apartment?”

“A little after one. I thought he was staying the night with you, but he said something came up, did something in his room, then left again. I have his phone right here.”

Strange.

“Maybe he just forgot it,” you mumbled, eyes screwed shut against the light of your screen.

“No, he was talking some crazy shit about a shrine or something, I don’t remember. But I feel like he’s going to do something… bad.”

You shot up in bed, alarm rocketing through your system.

Shit. You knew exactly what he was going to do.

“Oh, that _stupid_ Tengu!” You hissed out before quickly gathering your thoughts, already throwing your covers off of you. “Okay, alright. Jaemin, you should stay in your apartment, in case he comes back. I’ll make a few calls to the other guys and we’ll look for him.”

He didn’t argue with your plan, his voice wavering and sincere as he pleaded, “Please be safe, Y/N. I can’t lose both my best friends in one night.”

“I’ll find him, Jaemin,” you assured him, unable to bring yourself to promise him that you’ll be safe.

After all, you never did like lying to him.

Out in your living room, you saw that Tayeong was already awake, brow furrowed as he addressed you, “Why are you up?”

“Jaemin just called me. Jeno left and I think he’s going to the shrine. We have to find him.”

Your next move was to call up Johnny, most of your group was in his immediate vicinity. It was the second call that he finally picked up.

“Y/N?” The Domeki’s voice was slurred with sleep. “What’s up?”

“I think Jeno’s going after Mark.”

“What?” He shouted, making you wince back from the speaker.

“Jaemin called and said he left his phone in their apartment and was saying something about a shrine before he left.”

“I thought he was staying at your place.”

“So did I.”

“Alright, everyone’s meeting at the café, right?”

“It’d be faster if we all just go to the shrine right now.”

“And more dangerous, Y/N. Jeno did something stupid, but that doesn’t mean we have to. We’ll be able to help him better with all of us together.”

Unfortunately, he made sense. As you rushed to get ready, you gritted out, “Fine. Yes, let’s meet at the café. Can you call up Sicheng and Yuta while I call Kun?”

“Sure, yeah, of course,” Johnny promised. “I’ll see you in a bit, Y/N. And don’t worry too much, we’ll find him.”

“See you,” you responded shortly, swiftly hanging up as you stuffed your feet into shoes and threw the door open.

Taeyong followed you down the stairs as you hurriedly called Kun. He picked up after a single ring, and you couldn’t bring yourself to care enough to question why he had answered so soon.

“Y/N?”

“Kun, you need to meet us at the café right now.”

“We’re on our way,” he assured you. “What’s happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine—”

“Where are you?”

“Taeyong and I are running to Lenticular right now.”

“What street are you on?”

“Turning onto Chestnut from Main.”

“Doyoung and I are close by, we’ll pick you up.”

“I’m not stopping and waiting for you.”

“You are not faster than an SUV, Y/N.”

Once again, you were being stupid and irrational.

“Fine, we’re outside the macaron shop on Chestnut.”

Taeyong nearly slammed into your back when you suddenly stopped and fiercely hung up your phone.

It didn’t take long for a black SUV to speed down the street, brakes squealing as it pulled up beside you. The door was thrown open from the inside, and you wasted no time in climbing in, the car once again pulling away before Taeyong could even finish closing the door behind him.

Kun was in the backseat with you, hard eyes focused on you, “What happened, Y/N?”

“Jeno’s going to the shrine by himself,” you professed, trying to fight down your sobs. “That stupid, _stupid_ Tengu. If he doesn’t get himself killed doing this, I’m going to kill him myself.”

Your fists were clenched tight, nails digging crescents that you couldn’t even feel into your palm. A pair of hands gently worked at loosening your fingers, and you looked up from your lap to Kun. Through your teary eyes, you could see that the Oni’s gaze was soft as he let go of your hands. You were sure that you looked a mess: tired, crying, worried sick.

“No, you’re not,” Kun sighed. “You love him too much.”

The four of you were silent for the rest of the ride to Lenticular Café. Everyone in the restaurant were varying levels of tired, from Yukhei nodding off on his brother’s shoulder to Renjun practically shaking as he downed what you assumed to be his twentieth cup of coffee.

“What did featherbrain do?” Yuta demanded as soon as you had walked in, gestures still gentle as he pulled you into a tight hug. “What did Jen do?”

You clung tightly to the kitsune’s shirt for just a moment before taking a deep breath. You had to calm down, now. Removing yourself from his arms, you addressed the entire group.

“Jeno left without taking his phone and I think he’s going to the shrine to deal with this by himself.”

Everyone’s faces were grim when you announced it.

Renjun scoffed, “Stupid.”

To your surprise, Johnny—who was usually very careful not to touch Renjun—smacked the back of his head, “ _Not_ the time, Renjun.”

The Satori cast his eyes downwards, looking rather shameful as he shifted his weight between his legs.

“Everyone should be able to fit in the SUV if you don’t mind squeezing,” Kun offered. “Doyoung has it running right now.”

“Well let’s go.”

The SUV was packed, but you couldn’t care less about Sicheng’s elbow sticking into your side, or Taeyong’s legs crowding against yours. Nothing could matter again until you knew Jeno was okay.

Tenseness permeated the car, everyone absolutely quiet as Doyoung navigated the streets. You felt Taeyong shift beside you, and you moved to try to give him more room. He grabbed your forearm, making you look at him attentively.

“Yong?” You said his name quietly.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” his voice was a hoarse whisper.

“Why?”

“I saw him leaving and I should have stopped him or told you what was happening. But he made me promise to stay in the apartment with you and make sure you’re safe.”

“Oh, Yong,” you sighed bitterly, chest twinging painfully. “He shouldn’t have made you promise that.”

That stupid, stupid, _stupid_ Tengu.

* * *

The SUV could only go so far up the mountain before you had to finish the journey on foot. The leaves and twigs rustled and snapped underfoot, loud in the eerie silence of the forest. It was _too_ quiet, _too_ calm and still. You didn’t like it whatsoever.

You led the way, unable to slow your pace as you made your way through the familiar forest. This way nobody could see the tears still welling up in your eyes.

The Ayakashi behind you were all in their battle forms, surely an intimidating sight if you actually looked. But you were only focused on one Ayakashi. Jeno. You kept your senses heightened as you went, trying to detect anything. Beneath all the Ayakashi with you was the slight but definite hum of Wraiths, all still just out of sight. The closer you got to the shrine, the more intense the feeling became. That must be the mega-wraith beneath the shrine.

Continuing your trek, you knew you were nearing the shrine. The cloaking charm was still up, and you heard a cough behind you.

Turning around, you saw Jungwoo making his way towards you.

“The shrine is right in front of you, Lady Onmyoji,” he informed you.

“Okay,” you went to take the last step to cross through when the Tsukumo-gami grabbed your arm.

But you were already stepping in, the shrine suddenly appearing in your vision. Jungwoo’s grip on your arm disappeared, but you were too focused on your mission to really notice. The shrine seemed to loom high above you, vines now curled around the stones menacingly as nothing but sinister silence greeted you.

Finally turning to address your friends, your blood ran cold when you couldn’t see them. You were alone.

As you moved to poke your head back through the barrier and see what was going on with them, you heard a yelp of your name.

“Y/N!”

Jeno.

It came from within the shrine. Well aware of the bad feeling gnawing away at your stomach, you proceeded forward. The entire thing screamed trap, but nobody was here to be your voice of reason, your mind fully giving into your irrationality in that moment.

The sound of your feet rustling through the grass swapped to a harsh clack when your shoes impacted with the stone flooring of the shrine. They knew you were coming, no point in being too quiet about it.

Passing under entryways, you went further into the shrine. Past the veranda you’d sip tea on with Jungwoo, past the room you’d often hear Yukhei tinkering in, until you reached the very back, the largest room in the shrine. In the past, when the shrine was used as such, this was where devoted followers could come to pray.

The large hall made you feel even smaller as you looked around. Worn down motifs of whatever deity this was for were along the walls, the faint light from the rising sun peeking in through the holes in the crumbling stone. And there, in the corner, was Jeno. He was restrained by glowing purple bindings, surely the work of Ten. You had enough sense about you not to immediately run to his side, which you were glad for as you sensed the tainted feeling of Mark nearby.

“Hey, Y/N!” Mark’s voice carried through the auditorium well as he stepped up from behind Jeno.

He got no response from you, as your eyes were searching for his Ayakashi still.

“Don’t worry about Ten, he went to deal with your troupe. Which has gotten bigger since the last time we hung out, Y/N,” Mark’s eyes practically glittered as he spoke. “What on Earth did you say to get the loyalty of Qian Kun?”

“You call this hanging out?” You snorted, your voice cracking.

“Jeno was right. You are scared, aren’t you?”

You tensed up. Was _that_ why Jeno did this? Because you admitted to him that you were a little scared? Looking into Jeno’s shameful eyes told you all you needed to know.

“You aren’t, Mark? You’re about to unleash an ancient, evil power so great you might not be able to control it. Doesn’t that scare you?”

“I’m not doing it for me, Y/N,” he shook his head. “I’m doing it for my father, for what he believed in.”

“What did he believe in?”

“Peace. Peace between the human and supernatural world. He told me that we’re that link, as Onmyoji. You and I are that link, Y/N. We’re Onmyoji, both human and supernatural.”

“But how is summoning an evil mega-wraith going to bring peace between the supernatural and human worlds, exactly?”

“The Wraith itself won’t. No, the Wraith will cause mass destruction and wreak havoc and bring death and destruction. But then we—me, my father, and you—will banish the Wraith and save everybody. And the humans of the city will see that we’re benevolent and good.”

“That’s not benevolent and good, Mark,” you argued, in utter disbelief that he could actually think this was a good idea.

“You won’t help me?”

“If your father wanted peace, I don’t think he wanted all this.”

“You won’t help me?” Mark repeated, voice louder and tense.

“Not with a plan like this. We can come up with a better plan to introduce the supernatural world to the city, one with a lot less death, and I will help you then.”

“I tried. But all the Ayakashi here are perfectly content with being complacent and staying in hiding. This is what’s left.”

“Mark—”

Jeno suddenly cried out, and your attention snapped back to your boyfriend. Head thrown back, neck straining as he gritted his teeth against some sort of pain you couldn’t see.

“What did you just do to him?” You snapped at Mark, previous calm and reasonable demeanor melting away with a flare-up of anger.

Jeno’s tense body immediately relaxed as Mark tilted his head, looking at you innocently, “Me? Oh nothing, really. I just directed Ten’s powers to give him a little zap through the webs. So it wasn’t _really_ me, you know?”

The Tengu was breathing heavily, looking nearly pitifully up at you from the ground. Your heart clenched painfully.

“That’s not a pretty face you’re making there, Y/N,” Mark taunted, Jeno suddenly seizing up in pain again. “Why aren’t you doing anything? Trying to kill me? You know, help him? Guess you really are so scared that the Tengu thought he had to come take care of it himself.”

Despite Mark’s words getting on your nerves, your focus was still on Jeno, biting hard on your bottom lip to keep it from quivering. Finally, you were able to produce some kind of speech.

“Jeno…” you whispered his name, flinching when another quick zap went through him.

He didn’t say anything, eyes now brimming with tears as he held your eye contact.

“Oh, my bad,” the other Onmyoji tittered. “Poor Tengu’s got a muting charm on him.”

Jeno’s chest heaved as he took big gulps of air, able to speak once more, “Y/N, I’m—”

He was silenced again, Mark shaking his head at him, “Nope, that’s enough from you.”

“So,” his eyes flashed over to you, alight with entertainment. “You’ve got anything to say to him, Y/N? I’m quite enjoying watching this. It’s like reality TV but better.”

The oppressive presence of Wraiths unexpectedly disappeared from your senses. You tried not to show your surprise as you felt only the frequencies of your own Ayakashi friends, Ten, Mark, and the ancient power deep below you. If Mark had noticed it as well, he didn’t show it, or at least seem worried about it.

Locking eyes with Jeno once more, you sighed out, “Jeno, we were supposed to do this together.”

His eyes widened in hope, and you knew that you were on the same page.

With determination in your voice, you declared, _“Both of us.”_

Power surged through you, the same tingling from before now roaring through your system. In front of you, Jeno’s wings erupted from his back, snapping the webs restraining him that quickly dissolved into small glowing embers that fell around him. Mark stumbled back from the display in front of him, sending talisman after talisman out from his sleeve in a panic.

As soon as they left his fingertips, they were gone, not even nearing you nor Jeno, dissipating from the surplus of energy radiation off the two of you.

“So this is what happens when you fuck an Ayakashi, huh?” Mark snarled, sneakers squeaking on the floor of the worship hall as he skidded out of the room.

Your focus was still on Mark, having a sinking feeling this wasn’t over yet. A flap of wings caught your attention before a pair of arms wrapped around you, Jeno’s face buried in your hair.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I love you, Y/N,” he murmured.

You kissed his cheek almost absentmindedly, “I know, featherbrain. I love you too, you stupid Tengu.”

Wriggling out of his grasp, you grabbed his hand before taking off in the direction Mark had gone. You had a sinking feeling as to exactly where he was going: the small clearing behind the shrine that held a single crumbling altar.

The sounds of fighting carried through the air, and when you burst out, you were aware of them coming from around the other side of the building. The other Ayakashi must be fighting in front of the shrine.

Mark was at the altar where a small book was set, and he was muttering something under his break, words too quick for you to be able to decipher. But you knew exactly what it was. The incantation to summon the mega-wraith.

“I’ll go get the others,” Jeno squeezed your hand once before shooting up into the sky.

You turned your focus to the other Onmyoji. The bright rays of the rising sun were distorted in the air around him. A protective shield.

“Disturbance,” you murmured, stomping your foot on the ground.

A ripple of force shot through the ground, knocking him off-balance when it reached his feet. He lost his footing for a moment, and you took the opportunity to send a flurry of disturbances at him, continuously knocking into him as he struggled to stay up. Finally, unable to continue his recitations, he was forced to deal with you.

The protective shield fell as he stood squarely, eyes narrowed at you, “Petty, Y/N. After that big display in there, you come out here and do just the bare minimum to piss me off?”

You quirked an eyebrow up, stomping your foot once more. His knees wobbled just the slightest.

“Mission accomplished,” he practically growled.

A gunshot rang out from behind you, and you whipped around just in time to see a Wraith above you break apart into nothing. Renjun was holding the smoking gun, as expected. And behind you was a goosebump-raising sight. All your Ayakashi friends in their battle forms, rushing to your aide.

Renjun led the charge, indigo cape fluttering behind him, Johnny’s skin was entirely inked with eyes, Yuta’s four bushy black tails starkly contrasting Taeyong’s two snow white ones as they sprinted in beside one another. Jungwoo’s pastel green yukata fluttered, giving life to the sakura blossoms all along it. This was the first time you’d seen Yukhei in his battle form, teal blue hair blown back from his forehead as his thick eyebrows were set in determination, his own yakuta matching his hair. Doyoung didn’t seem much different aside from the new pale blue overcoat he donned. Kun had two distinct horns growing from the top of his forehead, right at his hairline, while he donned a scarlet ensemble and wielded an intimidatingly large katana. Hovering above them was Jeno, wings reflecting a deep blue in the rising sun, arms bare and sharp eyes overseeing the entire clearing.

Well, not all of them.

“Where’s Sicheng?” You yelled out to Renjun as the Satori ran up to you, the others holding off Mark and his resurgence of Wraiths in the meantime.

“He and the Jorogumo are still going at it,” Renjun shook his head.

“I need him here for the banishment.”

“Doyoung and I will switch out with him,” Kun was suddenly beside you, katana at the ready. “Remind him of his duty here and hold off the Jorogumo ourselves.”

“Thank you, Kun,” you nodded to the Oni, keeping one eye on the scene in front of you. “Feel free to take someone else that’s not involved in the banishment as well.”

“The two of us can handle one little spider.”

The ogre and snow spirit hurried back to the front of the shrine, and you hoped that for once, Sicheng would listen to and trust Kun.

Your throat seized up when you saw Taeyong get knocked back into a tree, but the Kitsune was already helping back to his feet before you could even move yours. Yuta kept a tight hold on the Nekomata’s arm as he put himself between the Wraiths and Taeyong.

You quickly went to work helping to banish the Wraiths that had appeared from seemingly nowhere. A hand was on your shoulder, and you looked up at Jungwoo.

“Save your powers, Lady Onmyoji. We can deal with the Wraiths ourselves,” he reassured you, bringing his flute up to his ears. “Cover your ears!”

Everybody within earshot immediately went to do so. You couldn’t hear the tune that came from the thin wooden flute, but you could see the tremoring and shuddering of the black forms all around you. Mark was covering his ears as well, his lips still moving. He’d gone back to the recitation.

Looking to Jeno, you were thankful that he was already looking at you, you wouldn’t have to try to get his attention without hands. You jerked your head towards Mark and the altar. Jeno nodded.

Tapping Jungwoo with your elbow, you mouthed to him to stop the song, which he thankfully did. As soon as the flute left Jungwoo’s lips, Jeno’s hand flew out, a single flick of his wrist sending the book that Mark was reading from off the altar. It fell to the ground, the Onmyoji diving after it. But it was still tumbling away from him, just out of his reach.

Looking up at Jeno, you could see the tiniest amount of amusement on his features. He was having fun messing with Mark. You couldn’t argue that watching Mark scramble after the book only for it to be pulled from his fingertips again wasn’t a little funny.

But that wasn’t the end of the plan.

The next time he managed to touch the book, he was able to finally grip it in his hand. Victoriously, Mark returned to the altar, rising another wave of Wraiths at you all. You heard the distinct rush of a waterfall, and watched in amazement as a huge column of water took out a large coagulation of wraiths headed right for Jeno.

“Thanks, dude!” The Tengu cheerfully saluted Sicheng, who had finally come around to the back of the shrine.

“Sicheng,” you breathed out his name thankfully.

Jeno descended next to you, drawing in Renjun and Johnny, who had been double-teaming a rather persistent group of Wraiths. Now with all five of your Ayakashi with you, you knew you were getting that much closer to the end of this.

“I’m sorry I took so long to get here,” Sicheng dipped his head in apology to the group, cheek that wasn’t covered with his iridescent scales a deep pink—from exertion or shame, you weren’t sure. “Are we almost ready?”

Looking over to Mark, you could feel the evil beneath you surging in intensity. His eyes were scanning the pages as he recited the words as fast as his mouth could possibly move. The ritual was nearing its completion.

“Almost,” you confirmed, nerves rising up within you.

Jeno took your hand in his, a comfort you were grateful for. Looking to each of your friends, you took a deep breath.

“Ayakashi of Bell Street, lend me your powers,” you enunciated clearly, feeling the individual powers of your five Ayakashi enter you.

Yukhei—who had been helping Yuta and Taeyong stave off the Wraiths while you conversed with your True Ayakashi—looked over upon hearing those words. Everybody knew of the plan, and what phase this would usher in. The final phase.

The ground beneath your feet rumbled, the telltale sign. The final warning before the power was to be unleashed.

As if working with one mind—which you essentially were—the six of you spread out. Jeno gave you a final squeeze of your hand and reassuring caress of your cheek before shooting up into the sky. Maintaining a loose circle around you, your Ayakashi followed you as you headed for Mark and the altar.

The next step was to activate all your individual links with your five Ayakashi. You’d already activated your link with Jeno earlier, you had four more to go.

“Johnny, who has always believed in me!” Johnny’s was activated now.

“Help me not be useless, Renjun!” Renjun’s was activated.

“Sicheng, my strong and honorable friend!” Sicheng’s was activated.

“Thank you, Jungwoo, my friend and mentor!” Jungwoo’s was activated.

“Ayakashi of Bell Street, lend me your powers!” You said it once more, nearly uprooting the grass beneath you with every powerful step you took.

There was a distinct burn on the back of your neck, and you pushed past it, using your newfound hyperawareness to truly take in your surroundings. Johnny, Sicheng, Renjun, Jungwoo, Jeno, and you. All six of you, your current experiences and powers entwined together within your body. It was almost too much to bear, but you were decided. Those five were all relying on you, the other five were relying on you, the city below you was relying on you, and whether they knew it or not, Mark and Ten were relying on you too.

Mark finally looked up from the book, not at you behind him, but at the swirling black mass rising up from the ground in front of him. The earth beneath you shook, and the evil permeating the air was nearly choking you.

You had to get Mark away from the mega-wraith _now_.

“Backup!” You cried out, getting the attention of the three Ayakashi you weren’t linked with.

Immediately, Taeyong, Yuta, and Yukhei all barreled straight for Mark, literally tackling him to the ground. You winced as you heard the smaller boy yelp under the force of all three of them. Primarily Yukhei.

But you couldn’t be worried about any broken bones he might have suffered. There was a much bigger deal in front of you.

With Taeyong, Yuta, and Yukhei keeping Mark out of your way, Kun, Doyoung and Ten’s fight flowing into the back of the shrine, and your own five Ayakashi holding the mass of smaller Wraiths at bay for you, you and the ancient power were center stage. The final showdown of the night, the main attraction.

It didn’t have glowing red orbs like the other Wraiths you’d encountered. It was dark, but its form seemed much more solid than the others had been. Almost tangible. The large mass above you seemed to be condensing, pulled by a central point of gravity into an unexpected shape.

A man stood before you, one clearly made of darkness, but with startlingly realistic features. He didn’t approach or even acknowledge you, turning his focus to the pinned-down Mark.

“Father!” Mark screamed, a renewed sense of fight in him as the three Ayakashi on him were thrown back. The Onmyoji made a dash towards the figure, and your stomach dropped. This was not going to end well for Mark. There was no way this evil was truly his dead father.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sicheng quit his fighting of the Wraiths to hurtle a ball of water at Mark.

Mark, caught off-guard, stumbled back a step. It was plenty of time for Yuta, Taeyong, and Yukhei to descend upon him again, knocking him back to the ground.

“Y/N!” Jeno yelling your name from above you startled you from your horrified trance.

Right. You had a job to do.

Gulping, you wet your dried throat and mouth to begin your incantation.

“Heed these powers of the Onmyoji! Cleanse the earth trodden upon by this great evil! Cease the disruption wrought by it! Flee this place for eternity!”

With every word you spoke, the combined powers within you swelled and multiplied.

“Heed these powers of the Onmyoji! Cleanse the earth trodden upon by this great evil! Cease the disruption wrought by it! Flee this place for eternity!”

Mark thrashed around underneath the three Ayakashi keeping him pinned, “No! No! Father!”

“Heed these powers of the Onmyoji! Cleanse the earth trodden upon by this great evil! Cease the disruption wrought by it! Flee this place for eternity!”

Kun had landed a blow on Ten, fresh scarlet blood welling up quickly from the perfect slash on his arm.

“Heed these powers of the Onmyoji! Cleanse the earth trodden upon by this great evil! Cease the disruption wrought by it! Flee this place for eternity!”

With one more to go, you felt a distinct wind pulsing above you, and looked up, confident smile crossing your lips as you made eye contact with Jeno.

“Heed these powers of the Onmyoji! Cleanse the earth trodden upon by this great evil! Cease the disruption wrought by it! Flee this place for eternity!”

To your credit, you didn’t pass out. Black dots quickly filled your vision as power surged, twisted through, and erupted from your body. A distinct ringing overtook your hearing, and you might have been floating for all you could tell, vestigial feelings gone.

When your vision returned, you realized that you were actually floating. More precisely, the face of Lee Jeno was the first thing you saw, and his arms supporting your body the first thing you felt. Your feet weren’t touching the ground, and you took deep, heaving breaths as you kept eye contact with him. Wind whistled by your ear, the ringing receding.

His voice was soft as the warmth of his breath glided over your noticeably chilly skin, “You did it, Y/N.”

Words couldn’t form on your lips, the only thing you could manage was a weak but bright smile. Descending back to the ground, you kept a strong grip on Jeno, unsure if you’d be able to stand on your own two feet.

The shadowy man and Wraiths were gone, and the fighting between Ayakashi had stopped as well, Ten holding his hands up in surrender as he slowly made his way towards Mark— who had been left in a heap on the ground, unrestrained by two of the three Ayakashi running to congratulate you. Yukhei, of course, was calmly walking over to check on his brother.

“Look at you, Onmyoji extraordinaire,” Yuta congratulated you, nothing but pride on his features as he gently placed a hand on your head, the physical exhaustion you felt receding.

“I knew you could do it, little lady,” Johnny ruffled up your hair, which was quickly fixed by a surprising hand.

“I can’t read your mind through your hair,” Renjun mumbled quietly, fingers carefully avoiding contact with your scalp as he quickly readjusted your hair. “You were very useful. But you and your boyfriend are still idiots.”

At the mention of Jeno, you looked at him, mouth surely mirroring the tender smile he already had on his own lips. A body impacting with yours caught you off-guard, and you sighed in relief when you knew it to be Taeyong, the Nekomata fretfully burying his head in your neck.

“You’re okay!” He breathed out in relief, the hand you placed on one of his ears doing little to properly calm him down.

“Yeah, Yong, I’m—” Your reassurances were cut short by a sudden commotion across the clearing from you.

“You killed him!” Mark screeched, getting to his feet and flinging himself towards you in a fury.

Jeno’s wings were suddenly spread in front of you, a shield between you and the other Onmyoji. But nothing impacted them. Curious, you pushed the wing out of the way to see what had happened.

Ten had his arms around Mark, holding the younger boy tightly with the assistance of his webs.

“That wasn’t him, Mark,” Ten told him firmly, hold steadfast as Mark once again tried to jerk himself out of his grasp. “It was tricking you, that wasn’t him. I’m sorry.”

“Father…” he wailed, stilling his attempts to escape his friend’s clutches. Ten’s webs receded when he realized that the Onmyoji was no longer struggling.

Seeing the secondhand agony on the Jorogumo’s features and watching the clear distress on Mark’s face break into chest-wracking sobs was an unbearable sight that you couldn’t look away from. Mark practically went limp in Ten’s arms then, but the older man was able to keep them both upright.

Ten bit his lip as he moved his pained gaze from the boy in his arms to you. The Ayakashi around you tensed up, but Ten had no inclination of aggression or malice in him at that moment. He held your eye contact, bowing to you as best he could, “Thank you, baby Onmyoji.”

“Of course,” you replied, eyes sadly looking down at the sobbing Mark, who seemed to have completely broken down, no longer aware of his surroundings. “I hope you heal well, Mark.”

“We’ll be heading back to the apartment,” Ten announced, tone entirely sincere and almost pleading, well aware that he didn’t have the upper hand in this situation.

As he turned to leave, you saw his face scrunch up for just a moment when he transferred the weight of Mark off one arm. Spotting the blood soaked into Mark’s shirt, you remembered that the Ayakashi had been wounded earlier.

“Wait, Ten!” You called out for him, leaving Jeno’s side to grab Yuta’s arm.

Ten stopped, watching you with interest as you brought Yuta towards him. The Kitsune clearly knew what you wanted him to do.

“Let me see your arm,” Yuta requested quietly.

Calmly, the Jorogumo revealed the gash across his skin. The entire clearing was silent as Yuta quickly rested his hand over the injury, the blood and exposed muscle magically disappearing before your eyes.

“I wish I’d met all of you under different circumstances,” Ten declared, a sorrowful smile flickering across his face as he looked down at the boy in his arms. “And I wish he had as well.”

“There’s always tomorrow, Ten,” Johnny called out, metaphorically extending out the olive branch from your side.

“There is, isn’t there?”

And finally, Ten and Mark departed from the shrine.

“I hope Mark is okay,” you said to nobody in particular, eyes still trained on the empty space that no longer held the Jorogumo and Onmyoji.

Turning back to your friends, you were met with a melancholy atmosphere that matched the bittersweet words you’d just said.

“Enough sad shit right now, guys!” Johnny broke the tension, bringing energy back into the air. “We did it! I’m thinking a big celebratory feast at Lenticular tonight.”

His bright grin was contagious, and you found yourself smiling back at him as your boyfriend sidled back up to your side, fingers entwining with yours.

“That sounds fantastic, Johnny,” you agreed.

“Oh hell yeah!” Yuta cheered, slinging his arm over Taeyong’s shoulders in his excitement.

And to your pleasant surprise, Taeyong didn’t push him off, instead beaming as brightly as the Kitsune, “A feast!”

“I think a celebration is in order,” Jungwoo agreed fondly, holding his brother’s arm in his gentle grip.

“I’ll help with preparing the food if you’d like, Johnny,” Sicheng offered.

“I work there, he’s got enough help,” Renjun rebuffed the Mizuchi dragon’s proposition, securing his position as Johnny’s only helper.

You looked to Kun and Doyoung expectantly, “You’re coming too, right guys?”

“I’m not known to turn down an invitation to a party,” Kun admitted, answering for himself and the snow spirit.

Descending from the shrine, your group was in high spirits: Yuta, Taeyong, and Sicheng chased each other around far ahead of the others— seeing Sicheng’s typical serious demeanor give way to such a childish game was rather entertaining; Renjun and Johnny discussed what they were going to cook for tonight; Jungwoo and Kun were having a rather jovial conversation about something that happened well over a century ago, some kind of shared memory for the two of them while Doyoung and Yukhei watched on wordlessly beside their own respective companions; and you and Jeno glided above the trees that the others were walking underneath.

“I think we are quite the power couple, huh?” You said only half-joking, recalling the moment you activated your link while he was tied up.

“I agree,” Jeno bumped his nose against your cheek affectionately.

The wind whipped around your face, threatening to chill you to the bone, but you were much too enamored with your boyfriend to pay it much attention.

Pressing a kiss to his temple, you sighed in contentment, “I love you, Jeno. Even if you are a stupid, knuckleheaded Tengu.”

Jeno rubbed a warm hand up and down your arm, cynical chuckle tangible with his body pressed against yours, “Yeah, that’s me. A stupid knuckleheaded Tengu who’s so in love with you he doesn’t know what to do with himself most of the time.”

“Well, I know one thing you shouldn’t do.”

He crooked an eyebrow up, imploring you to explain yourself.

“Try to take care of an Onmyoji intent on summoning a great evil by yourself because I told you I was scared.”

“Right,” he conceded, dropping his head into your neck shamefully.

Threading the fingers of one hand through the hair above the nape of his neck, and dipping the others below his collar to splay over the lotus blossom on his skin, you hummed, “I also know some things you _should_ do when you’re so in love with me that you don’t know what to do with yourself.”

Jeno brought his face back out to narrow his eyes suspiciously at you, the playfulness in your tone echoed in his expectant features, “And what’s that?”

“Kiss me, for one.”

With the grip you had on the back of his head, you slotted your mouths together. Jeno eagerly reciprocated the kiss, lips surprisingly soft against your own wind-chapped ones. Must be a Tengu adaptation, you thought to yourself curiously, never getting chapped lips from flying. As much as that intrigued you, your boyfriend moving one hand up to cup your cheek and deepen the kiss was even more enrapturing, quickly ridding your mind of any thoughts aside from him.

“Mm, you’re a genius,” he murmured after pulling back from you just the tiniest bit, lips still ghosting over yours as he spoke.

“I kno—” your smartass retort was cut short by Jeno kissing you again, an interruption that you weren’t about to protest.

Something smacking into your leg grabbed your attention away from Jeno for a moment. Having a feeling that you knew what it was, you unwillingly ended the kiss, glaring down at your friends below you.

“Hey lovebirds!” Renjun yelled up at you, another stick already in his hand. To your embarrassment, everyone had stopped walking and were all looking up at you. You briefly wondered how long they had been watching you and Jeno make out in the air.

“Get your stupid butts back down here!” This time the stick flew by your head, and with a yelp, you ducked, a laugh bubbling up nevertheless.

“He’s really quite eloquent, isn’t he?” Jeno rolled his eyes, making you choke out a giggle.

Reluctantly, but still with some humor in your voice, you admitted, “You should probably put us down before any normal people see and put us on their Snap story.”

And so Jeno descended, bringing the two of you back to the ground and hiding his wings once more. Everyone else had returned to their human forms in preparation for reentry to civilization, which Jeno quickly did as well. You unabashedly made eye contact with every one of them, tilting your head innocently. As if you hadn’t been locking lips with Jeno while in flight for the past several minutes well within view of them.

“You two are unbelievable,” Yuta shook his head. “Anybody got a bag I can throw up in?”

“We’re in the middle of the forest, foxface, you don’t really need a bag,” Taeyong pointed out. “But I’ll gladly join you in retching up the _none food_ I’ve eaten today.”

At the mention of food, your stomach seemed have suddenly recalled your lack of breakfast. The sun was hanging high in the sky, and all around you, the city you’d just entered was well awake. Probably brunch time.

“Let’s all break for breakfast and meet up again at Lenticular for dinner,” Johnny suggested. “Renjun and I have some shopping to do anyway.”

“Doyoung and I have some work to attend to,” Kun agreed, the group slowing to a stop at the previously abandoned SUV. “Would anybody like a ride to their destination?”

“If you could drop us at the market, that’d be great,” the Domeki accepted the offer, referring to himself and Renjun.

“I am accompanying my brother on a walk through the city,” Jungwoo politely declined for himself and Yukhei. “He is going to show me all the places he frequents here. I am quite interested in his tinkering.”

“They’re just junk metal and spare part shops,” Yukhei sighed, but nonetheless had a fond look on his face as he gazed over at his brother.

“I told Mrs. Y/L/N I’d be at the shop as soon as my emergency was resolved,” Sicheng announced. “It would be fastest for you to take me there, Kun.”

Your eyes widened at this, as did Kun’s for just a moment before his features relaxed into an easy smile, “Of course, Sicheng.”

“I’m showing pretty kitty the wonders of brunch a couple streets over,” Yuta waved off the ride offer as well, and you had to suppress a satisfied grin at how well they were getting along now.

That just left you and Jeno, and you weren’t sure what the two of you were going to do yet. You were about to ask Jeno that, but once you’d turned and saw him yawning, your own mouth split into a yawn as well.

“Well, seems like we’re going to be taking a nap in the meantime,” you immediately declared. “The subway stop’s not too far, you guys can go on without us.”

Kun nodded, opening the door for the others to start piling in, “Alright, see you all tonight.”

The six of you not going in the car gave them all your goodbyes, then split up yourselves.

“I think I’m going to accept the SI position,” you announced, having decided it in that very moment as you and your boyfriend took to the sidewalks together.

“You’re not going to class today, are you?”

“No, we have a nap date,” you scoffed, earning a soft smile from your boyfriend. “I’ll tell my professor Wednesday.”

“After our nap…” Jeno began, fingers laced with yours. “Could we go visit LeLe’s tree?”

“Of course,” you squeezed his hand. “I think he’d be proud of what you did today.”

“Yeah, but he’d call _you_ a freaking legend.”

A loving smile crossed your lips as you watched Jeno chuckle, probably imagining his friend’s voice saying it. And before you could stop yourself, you said, “I wish I could have met him.”

Jeno slowed to a stop on the sidewalk, looking over at you, holding eye contact for a queasy moment— you hoped you hadn’t upset him by saying that. He alleviated your worries by pecking between your furrowed brows, your eyes fluttering shut instinctually.

“I don’t,” he declared simply, restarting your journey.

“Why not?”

“I love LeLe, and I’m so thankful to have had him in my life. But—as morbid as this sounds—I’m also thankful to not have him in my life anymore,” Jeno admitted quietly. “He’ll forever be part of my heart, and I hope this doesn’t sound too cynical or terrible of me to say, but if he hadn’t- if I hadn’t lost him, I wouldn’t have been under his tree that day, I wouldn’t have tried replacing him with Jaemin instead, and I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you.”

A pain twinged in your chest, his confession bringing up so many complex emotions. Obviously, you felt guilty for Jeno’s apparent relief at losing his best friend. But on the other hand, you knew he didn’t mean it as a negative thing, or to disrespect his friend’s memory. It was because he loved his friend so much that he was able to accept that the horrible pain of his loss ushered in something great to his life.

Carefully, you pieced your words together, “I think we still would have met, Jeno, one way or another, and fallen in love like this.”

“Maybe,” he replied wistfully. “But we won’t know, and right now, I’ll just have to be thankful for the path we’re on.”

“You sound like Jungwoo now,” you teased, ushering humor back into the conversation.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Suddenly, something Jeno had mentioned came back to you, “Jaemin! I’ve got to tell him we’re not dead!”

* * *

Waking up one morning, you rolled over into a familiar, warm body, slinging your arm over their waist. With your forehead resting between Jeno’s shoulder blades, you were almost back asleep when the door to your bedroom was thrown open, a shrill shriek piercing the previously silent air.

Shooting up in bed, you yelped as well, Jeno’s wings spread defensively in front of you as he had also been awoken.

“You’re naked!” The intruder was Taeyong, covering his eyes in horror.

You yanked the sheets up over you, yelling back, “You don’t live here anymore!”

“You gave me a spare key!”

“For emergencies, like if you and Yuta got into another spat and you needed somewhere to crash for a night! Not to scare the shit out of us!” You groaned, heart rate starting to return to normal as Jeno tucked his wings away once more, seeing that the scarred Nekomata was not a threat.

“It _is_ an emergency!”

Jeno’s voice was low and thick with both sleep and annoyance, “Why are you here, Taeyong?”

“I can’t find my pink mouse at my apartment; I think I forgot it here when I packed.”

Of course Taeyong would consider his missing cat toy an emergency. Rolling your eyes, you flopped back down in bed, pulling the blankets over your head to let your boyfriend deal with this.

“You can open your eyes, Yong,” he grumbled, and you felt the mattress shift as he swung his legs over the side and stood up. “I’ll help you look, get you out of here faster.”

“Oh. You’re not naked.”

“Yeah, I’ve got underwear on. Stop looking at my state of undress and look for your damn mouse instead.”

After the Nekomata had successfully located the toy underneath your dresser, Jeno didn’t even bother walking him to the front door, instead closing your bedroom door behind him, locking it, then falling back into bed beside you. You peeked over the covers at him, tender smile on your lips as you took in his adorable bedhead that seemed rather out of place paired with his exposed chest and torso.

“You shouldn’t have given him that key,” Jeno declared, slipping under the blankets with you.

Snuggling into his chest, you defended yourself, “I felt bad kicking him out of the only place he thought he was going to call home! And you remember how him and Yuta used to hate each other, I wanted to make sure he had another option when they started living together, just in case.”

“If I remember correctly, the hate was mostly one-sided, and Taeyong was only pissed at Yuta because he had been scenting you, right? My hypothesis here, is that once that conflict was resolved, they didn’t really have anything to fight about and are now best friends.”

“Do you have a hypothesis about _how_ that conflict was resolved?”

“Easy, I started scenting you.”

“Oh my god!” You guffawed, smacking his arm with little force.

“I mean, not to me,” he rushed to explain. “I can’t smell anything but you. But they’ve got those animal noses, right? So once we started h—”

“Stop!” You cut him off, minutely shaking your head at the incredulousness of the conversation you were having. “I don’t want to hear your animal Ayakashi scenting theory anymore.”

“I have one about how awkward sex with Renjun would probably be—”

“Nope! Wait, why are you thinking about having sex with Renjun?”

“Not me specifically, just in general, because he can read minds through touch, right? And when someone’s h—”

“Good lord, Lee Jeno, I don’t remember you being this fucking weird.”

Jeno chuckled, chest vibrating along with it as he readjusted his arms around you, “Sorry, my classes are really boring. I just zone out, you know?”

“Hopefully your ones next semester will engage you a lot more,” you scoffed, nuzzling yourself further into him.

“I love you, Y/N,” he murmured quietly, legs entangling with yours.

“Yeah, I love you too, featherbrain.”


End file.
